Founded by Rowland Schaefer and later run by his daughters, Bonnie and Marla Schaefer, Claire's Stores was sold to an affiliate of the New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management for about $3 billion in 2007. If the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys, for young women and girls, it may be the price of their accessories. For thrifty, fashion-conscious females ages 3 to 27, Claire's Stores is the queen of costume jewelry, handbags, and hair bows. The company operates nearly 3,000 boutiques, primarily in malls, under the Claire's and Icing banners. The chain is present in all 50 US states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Canada, as well as about 10 European countries.

Poundland wants its customers to care as much as it does about the value of British Sterling. Founded in 1990, Poundland is the UK's leading single-price retailer with 260-plus storefronts throughout Britain and plans to add 50 more in 2010/2011. Its typical 3,000 products offered range from drinks to household goods, with more large-size manufacturers coming on board each year. In 2002 then chief executive David Dodd led a management buy-out backed by venture capitalist Advent International.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of hardwood flooring in the United States. It offers an assortment of hardwood flooring that includes prefinished premium domestic and exotic hardwoods, engineered hardwoods, unfinished hardwoods, bamboo, cork, and laminates. The company also provides flooring enhancements and installation accessories, including moldings, noise-reducing underlay, and adhesives. Lumber Liquidators Holdings offers its products primarily under Lumber Liquidators, Bellawood, Dream Home, Schon, Virginia Mill Works, and Morning Star brand names. The company markets its products through integrated sales channels comprising stores, a call center, lumberliquidators.com Web site, and a catalog. As of February 18, 2010, it operated approximately 195 stores. Lumber Liquidators, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, Virginia.

Claire's Accessories UK, like its US parent company Claire's Stores, sells costume jewelry, handbags, and hair accessories largely to the 7- to 14-year-old set through about 430 stores throughout England and Ireland. It also markets accessories to late teens and twenty-somethings through its Icing stores. The company's stores are primarily located in shopping malls and on high streets. Claire's Stores opened its first shop in the UK in 1996 and has since extended its reach to other European countries, including Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.

Meijer (pronounced "Meyer") is a giant of retailing in the Midwest. The company's huge grocery and general merchandise stores average 200,000 to 250,000 sq. ft. each (or about the size of four regular grocery stores) and stock about 120,000 items, including Meijer private-label products. Meijer operates about 195 locations; about half are in Michigan, while the rest are in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Customers can choose from 40-plus departments, including apparel, electronics, hardware, and toys. Most stores also sell gasoline, offer banking services, and have multiple in-store restaurants. Founder Hendrik Meijer opened his first store in 1934; the business is still family owned and run.

Cinder Block wants to help you expand your beloved concert T-shirt collection. The merchandising and licensing company got its start in 1989 on a Berkeley sidewalk where co-founder and president Jeffery Bischoff set up a card table and hawked manually printed T-shirts to students and tourists. Today Cinder Block's client roster numbers more than 300 artists, including musical acts Radiohead, Green Day, the Pixies, and Weezer. In addition to traditional apparel offerings, the company provides merchandising services for concert tours. Cinder Block's venture, Cinder Block Ticketing, was created in partnership with Baseline Ticketing to offer online ticket presales. It was acquired by Transom Capital Group in 2009.

Sam Levitz Furniture Company Incorporated sells a variety of furniture through three showrooms and a clearance center in Tucson, Arizona. It stocks brand names such as Bassett, Broyhill, Lane, and Natuzzi. The company has been family-owned and -operated since it was founded by newspaper photographer Sam Levitz in 1953. Today the company is run by Sam's son, Sam R. Levitz. Sam Levitz Furniture in Arizona is not connected to the defunct national Levitz Furniture chain.

Kum & Go brings convenience to America's heartland. The company's 460-plus stores in about a dozen states throughout the Midwest offer beer, cigarettes, fountain drinks, coffee, snacks, and other items craved by late night shoppers and daytime commuters alike. Kum & Go also sells gasoline at most of its convenience stores and even offers an ethanol blend (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) at several locations in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and South Dakota. Corporate customers can take advantage of Kum & Go's fleet fueling service. Kum & Go, founded in 1959 by W.A. Krause & Tony Gentle, is the nation's third-largest private owner and operator of convenience stores. The company gives 10% of annual profits to charity.

Pro & Sons also operates a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix and a gas station in El Paso. Founded in 1982 by Mike Provenzano, Pro & Sons began catering to Latinos in the 1990s.Pro & Sons may sound Italian in name, but its business is strictly Hispanic. The company owns and operates about a dozen Ranch Market grocery stores in Southern California, Phoenix, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas that cater to the Hispanic population. Ranch Market's store departments, which capitalize on the company's Mexican heritage, include tortilla factories, bakeries, hot foods, meat, and produce. The supermarkets also house in-store La Cocina prepared-foods departments, which serve up Mexican fare, and Aguas Frescas refreshment bars

Founded in 1973, A & E Stores also owns Rugby Realty, a real estate investment firm. Working women who have never heard of A & E Stores are more likely to be familiar with its Strawberry and Bolton's retail apparel chains. The company operates about 30 Bolton's and 25 Strawberry stores that sell junior and women's career and casual apparel, shoes, and accessories. The stores are concentrated in prime office districts in Manhattan and elsewhere in New York City. A & E's third chain, Pay/Half, operates some 45 discount family clothing stores in about a half dozen northeastern states and the Chicago area.

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