USG organized L&W Supply in 1971. At the construction job site A&W can supply the root beer, while L&W can deliver the gypsum wallboard and other building materials. L&W Supply distributes more than 40,000 building products made by its parent company, USG, and other manufacturers through nearly 200 locations in about 35 states. Besides wallboard (which accounts for about 30% of sales), L&W Supply's products include ceilings, insulation, joint treatment and texture products, metal framing, and roofing supplies. It also offers such services as delivery of less-than-truckload quantities, stocking, and lending. The company's customers are primarily builders and contractors.

Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) is Canada's only nationwide drugstore chain, with locations in every province and two territories. With more than 1,200 drugstores, it's #2 north of the border, behind Katz Group. Most of the company's stores fly the Shoppers Drug Mart banner (Pharmaprix in Quebec). It also operates about 65 Shoppers Home Health Care stores. SDM ranks as a leading Canadian retailer of beauty products, with more than 225 in-store beauty boutiques that sell prestige cosmetics, fragrances, and skin care products. It is expanding in Quebec by opening new stores and acquiring independent pharmacies. The firm was founded in 1962 by Murray Koffler, a Toronto druggist.

Auchan's mammoth markets make room for more than meals. France's second-largest food retailer (behind Carrefour), Auchan operates some 740 supermarkets and about 515 hypermarkets (French for supercenters) in about a dozen countries. France represents 47% of Auchan's sales, but the firm has stores throughout Europe and in China, Dubai, Russia, and Taiwan. (Auchan exited the US, Mexico, and Morocco in recent years.) Its hypermarkets carry up to 100,000 products, including groceries, apparel, consumer electronics, and fast food. They also provide travel services. Auchan's other core businesses include banking (Banque Accord), and shopping mall development (Immochan). The founding Mulliez family controls Auchan.

Fry's Food and Drug Stores is owned by The Kroger Co., the 1 pure grocery chain in the US.Fry's Food and Drug Stores operates about 100 supermarkets under the Fry's Food & Drug banner, mostly in Phoenix but also in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to traditional supermarket fare, many Fry's stores have in-store pharmacies, and a third of its supermarkets offer full-service banking in partnership with Bank One. Fry's also operates about 20 Fry's Marketplace stores, large (up to 120,000 sq. ft.) multi-department stores that offer full-service grocery and pharmacy departments, as well as expanded general merchandise, electronics, home goods, and toy sections.

The Kitchen Collection, Inc. sells discounted cookware, bakeware, small appliances, cooking tools and gadgets, kitchen products seen on TV, and decorative items through more than 295 Kitchen Collection and Le Gourmet Chef stores in 40-plus states, as well as on its website. It stocks both private-label and brand-name merchandise (including the Hamilton Beach line owned by The Kitchen Collection's parent, NACCO Industries). The company's stores are primarily located in factory outlet malls nationwide.

Gruppo Coin will take your coins -- and your cash. It owns and franchises about 500 department stores throughout Italy and abroad that sell apparel, accessories, perfume and cosmetics, and home decor. In addition to carrying apparel from well-known Italian and international brands, the firm designs and offers its own lines, including JCT (sportswear), Koan (urban apparel), Twiddy (children's clothing), and Melina (lingerie). Its stores operate under the Coin and Oviesse banners. The company's beginnings can be traced to 1916, when founder Vittorio Coin began selling fabrics. PAI Partners controls the firm with about an 80% stake, of which the Coin family has a nearly 50% interest.

The Gap, Inc. operates as a specialty retailing company. The company offers clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, children, and babies under the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, and Athleta brand names. Its products include wardrobe basics, such as denim, khakis, and T-shirts; fashion apparel; casual apparel and accessories; maternity apparel; women’s underwear, sleepwear, loungewear, and sports and active apparel; and shoes and accessories. The company also franchises agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap and Banana Republic stores worldwide. As of March 24, 2010, it operated approximately 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, and Ireland. The Gap also offers its products through catalogs, as well as gap.com, bananarepublic.com, oldnavy.com, piperlime.com, and athleta.com Web sites. The Gap, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is based in San Francisco, California.

W.S. Badcock Corporation sells furniture for every room in the house through more than 300 Badcock Home Furnishing Centers and Badcock &more stores in about 10 southeastern states as well as online. Badcock stores also carry appliances, lawn equipment, electronics, mattresses, floor coverings and rugs, bedding, lighting, wall art, and other decorative accessories. Founded in 1904 as a general mercantile store by Henry S. Badcock, the company is in its fourth generation of family management.

Victoria's Secret is not hush-hush, but it is unmentionable(s). The largest subsidiary of Limited Brands (based on sales) is also North America's #1 specialty retailer of women's intimate apparel, operating about 1,040 mostly mall-based Victoria's Secret and 250-plus La Senza lingerie stores throughout the US and Canada. Bras, panties, hosiery, swimwear, shoes, and more are sold under the Victoria's Secret brand and grouped in collections such as Dream Angels and Very Sexy. Many Victoria's Secret lingerie stores also sell beauty products. Its sister company Victoria's Secret Direct mails about 400 million of its sexy catalogs per year, offering intimate apparel, women's clothing, and footwear.

Monrovia Nursery Company was founded in 1926 by the aptly named Harry Rosedale. A rose of any color keeps Monrovia Nursery in the black. Monrovia grows more than 20 million container-grown plants in 2,000 varieties at its five nurseries in California, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon. Among its offerings are camellias, conifers, ferns, perennials, rhododendrons, and trees. The company has introduced some 300 exclusive varieties, holding more than 200 patents and trademarks. Monrovia supplies more than 5,000 garden centers with its plants and also crafts topiary forms, including some at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. It has additionally developed more than 40 specialized soil mixtures.

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