Steinhoff UK Retail wants it customers to fill their homes with furniture with its help. Formerly named Homestyle Group until 2007, the company is one of Britain's largest furniture retailers. Its furniture division, Harveys Furnishing Group, operates about 170 Harveys: The Furniture Store shops throughout the UK. Its beds division operates Bensons Beds (the UK's largest bed retailer with 220 stores and 15,000 branded beds), Bed Shed (more than 50 stores primarily in Scotland), and Sleepmasters (with nearly 120 retail sites in the UK). Steinhoff Europe AG, a subsidiary of Steinhoff International Holdings (SIH), took the company private in 2007.

Founded by William Pike in 1958, Pike Nurseries, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2007, blaming the worst drought in Georgia in a century, and put itself up for sale. After closing some of its nurseries, Pike's retail operation was sold to California-based Armstrong Garden Centers (AGC) for $5.2 million in a bankruptcy auction in March 2008. Pike's wholesale businesses were also sold off. Pike Nurseries helps keep thumbs green across Atlanta. Pike Nurseries, Inc. runs about 15 Pike Family Nurseries in the Atlanta area and a single nursery in North Carolina (down from about 20 locations in 2007). Stores sell plants, chemicals, tools, shrubs, trees, and garden furniture.

Showerlux UK became a subsidiary of Swiss-based Duscholux Group in 1973. Showerlux wants its customers to luxuriate in the shower as often as they possibly can. The company manufactures and installs its own high-design, high-end bathroom fixtures. In addition to its primary product offering, which features shower enclosures, doors, and trays, its selection also includes shower seats, baths, cabinets, furniture, mirrors, and a hydrotherapy collection, all ready to fit into bathrooms of a variety of sizes. Customers are even able to design their own custom bathrooms on the company's Web site.

Pilot offers a salve to those suffering from white-line fever. Its Pilot Travel Centers LLC, a joint venture between Pilot and CVC Capital Partners, runs more than 300 truck stops in some 40 states. Each features restaurant chains such as Subway, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Pilot has fuel islands large enough to service several 18-wheelers at a time and private showers. Pilot Truck Care Centers provide TLC for big rigs. The firm also owns and operates about 45 convenience stores under the Pilot Food Mart banner in Tennessee. James Haslam II got Pilot off the ground in 1958 as a gas station that sold cigarettes and soft drinks; now his son, CEO James Haslam III, pilots the firm. The Haslam family owns the company.

Majestic Wine PLC allows customers to order in-store or through its website. It uses its own fleet of vans to offer free delivery throughout Britain. Majestic was founded in 1981.Majestic Wine lets even commoners drink like kings. The company sells mixed cases of wine to the public through about 150 warehouse stores across the UK and half a dozen locations on the French side of the English Channel. (The French stores cater primarily to Britons who take advantage of the shops' lower duty rates.) Majestic also sells spirits, beer, and nonalcoholic beverages

GLENTEL (TSX: GLN) is a leading provider of innovative and reliable telecommunications services and solutions in Canada and the United States. Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Burnaby, BC, GLENTEL comprises three operating divisions – Retail Canada, Retail US and Business – that service thousands of consumers and commercial communications customers. The company operates more than 280 stores across Canada as well as 138 mall stores in the United States. GLENTEL's Retail Division consists of three consumer brands in Canada: WIRELESSWAVE/WAVE SANS FIL, Tbooth wireless/la cabine T sans fil, and WIRELESS etc./SANS-FIL etc. providing wireless and wired communications products and services as well as a choice of cellular brands to consumers through retail malls and Costco Wholesale stores. With locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, GLENTEL is now one of the largest multi-carrier retailers in Canada. Through its Diamond Wireless locations, it offers Verizon Premium Retailer service in the US. GLENTEL’s Business Division, with branches across Canada, provides integrated wireless solutions for public safety, government and business customers. These solutions include designing and commissioning wireless networks for commercial applications in three core areas: terrestrial radio systems, satellite network services, and advanced mobile solutions. With more than four decades of experience in wireless communications, GLENTEL has the largest technical staff of its kind in Canada to develop, install and support a broad range of end-to-end solutions. GLENTEL has been publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange since June 1, 1983, and is headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim is one of the most progressive regional business houses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Al-Futtaim operates through more than 65 companies across sectors as diverse as commerce, industry and services, and employs in excess of 20,000 people across the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Singapore and Europe.Entrepreneurship and rigorous customer focus has enabled Al-Futtaim to grow its business by responding to the changing needs of the customers and societies in which it operates. Al-Futtaim is committed to offering customers an unrivalled choice of the world's best brands with exceptional standards of customer service and after sales support.Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim is one of the most progressive regional business houses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Al-Futtaim operates through more than 65 companies across sectors as diverse as commerce, industry and services, and employs in excess of 20,000 people across the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Singapore and Europe. Entrepreneurship and rigorous customer focus has enabled Al-Futtaim to grow its business by responding to the changing needs of the customers and societies in which it operates. Al-Futtaim is committed to offering customers an unrivalled choice of the world's best brands with exceptional standards of customer service and after sales support.

Carrefour Italia sources more than 90% of its agricultural food products locally and sells its own brands of food, including the Terre D'Italia and ScelgoBio labels.Europe's leading retailer Carrefour knows that to live la dolce vita, you've got to buy lots of stuff. Its operations in Italy are carried out by Carrefour Italia, one of the country's biggest sellers of food and general merchandise, along with Conad and Coop Italia. Carrefour owns about 495 stores in Italy, which operate under the names Carrefour (about 65 hypermarkets), GS (about 235 supermarkets), DìperDì (some 175 convenience stores), and DocksMarket and GrossIper (about 15 cash-and-carry stores), and franchises more than a thousand others.

Dickson Concepts (International) aims to satisfy the Asian market's hunger for luxury goods. The company operates about 500 stores (some through joint ventures) in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan. (Hong Kong and China account for about 75% of sales.) The company operates single-brand luxury retailers, including ones selling Bertolucci, Chopard, Brooks Brothers, and Tommy Hilfiger. Dickson Concepts also operates stores under various luxury names, including Harvey Nichols and three Seibu department stores in Hong Kong. Sales are split between locals and tourists. Group executive chairman Dickson Poon owns 40% of Dickson Concepts.

JCPenney, one of America's leading retailers, operates over 1,100 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as one of the largest apparel and home furnishing sites on the Internet, jcp.com. Serving more than half of America’s families each year, JCPenney offers a wide array of private, exclusive and national brands which reflect the Company’s vision to be America’s shopping destination for discovering great styles at compelling prices. Traded as “JCP” on the New York Stock Exchange, the $17.6 billion retailer is transforming its organization to support its Long Range Plan strategies to build a sustainable, profitable enterprise that serves its customers, engages it associates and rewards its shareholders.

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