Milaeger's was founded in 1960 by Dan and Joan Milaeger. Milaeger's has the difficult task of keeping things green on the banks of Lake Michigan. The company operates two nurseries in Racine and Sturtevant, Wisconsin, selling seeds, soil, plants, mulch, as well as apparel, Christmas collectibles, figurines, folk art, outdoor furniture, and home decor. It also offers landscape services including lawn, tree, and shrub care along with design services. Milaeger's regularly hosts shows by collectibles merchants, local fashion shows, and gardening workshops. The company's Java Garden Cafe, onsite at both locations, offers hot and cold beverages, dessert, and light lunch and dinner items.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the world's largest luxury goods company, with brands that are bywords for the good life and everything showy. LVMH makes wines and spirits (Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, and Hennessy), perfumes (Christian Dior, Guerlain, and Givenchy), cosmetics (Bliss, Fresh, and BeneFit), fashion and leather goods (Donna Karan, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Louis Vuitton), and watches and jewelry (TAG Heuer, Ebel, Chaumet, and Fred). LVMH's selective retail division includes Sephora cosmetics stores, Le Bon Marche Paris department stores, and 61% of DFS Group (duty-free shops). Chairman Bernard Arnault and his family, through Groupe Arnault, own about 47% of LVMH.

Food Lion brand products accounts for about 20% of sales. Founded in 1957 as Food Town, Food Lion is the largest US subsidiary of Delhaize America, a subsidiary of Brussels-based grocer Delhaize.Food Lion is a king among grocery chains in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions where it operates about 1,330 supermarkets under the Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar, and Harveys banners. About half of the company's stores are in the Carolinas, but it also has outlets in nine other states, including Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. Food Lion, which prides itself on extra low prices, has taken a beating from low-cost competitors, most notably Wal-Mart Supercenters, and a weak economy.

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.

YGM Trading Limited company has filled its products portfolio by purchasing many of its brands from foreign companies. YGM spun off Hang Ten as its own publicly traded company in 2003. YGM Trading company offers a frequent buyer's program and its own Visa card. Don't be surprised to find YGM Trading in your closet. The apparel manufacturer, distributor, and retailer offers fashions under the brand names Michel Rene (private label), Aquascutum, Guy Laroche Femme (owns and licenses), Charles Jourdan, Ashworth (golf), and (20% owned) Hang Ten. Its 800 shops are located mostly in China, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US. It boasts a presence in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Allied Building Products Corp. was founded in 1950 as a family-operated roofing and custom sheet metal fabrication business. Allied Building Products counts home builders and contractors as part of its circle of friends. Serving the commercial and residential construction markets, the company distributes exterior and interior building materials, including roofing, siding, drywall, and acoustical tile, from major manufacturers. Allied also markets products under its own Cutting Edge and Tri-Bilt brands. The firm operates about 180 branches in 30 states, and it maintains a fleet of more than 2,700 vehicles, including cranes and delivery trucks. Allied is a subsidiary of Oldcastle (itself a subsidiary of CRH).

Old Time Pottery a chain of about 30 stores in about 10 states in the South and Midwest selling discounted closeout and overstock housewares, silk flowers, framed art, linens, rugs, craft supplies, seasonal merchandise, and more. The company gets its inventory, which it displays in a warehouse-type setting, from the canceled orders and excess stock of manufacturers. And it needs lots of inventory, as stores average about 2 acres in size. Founded in 1986, Old Time Pottery is controlled by the Peterson family. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2009 and exited it in August 2010.

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.

In response, Albert Heijn has undergone an image makeover; from the most expensive supermarket in Holland to a price-competitive supermarket chain. There's nothing small time about Albert Heijn, who began selling groceries in the 1880s and whose namesake chain is now the #1 food retailer in the Netherlands. With more than 820 company-owned and franchised supermarkets and AH to Go convenience stores throughout the tiny country, the Albert Heijn chain is the flagship banner of Royal Ahold, contributing more than a third of its parent's sales. The grocery chain has a 22% share of the local market, but is losing ground to competitors, including hard discounter ALDI of Germany and region rivals Laurus N.V. and Edah.

Dierbergs Florist and Gifts, affiliated with FTD, offers gift baskets and floral services at its stores and over the Internet for local and international delivery. Founded as a trading outpost in 1854, the Dierberg family has owned and operated Dierbergs since 1914.Dierbergs Markets has a taste of what folks in St. Louis like to eat. Dierbergs operates about two dozen upscale supermarkets in the St. Louis area, where rival Schnuck Markets is the market leader. Dierbergs' stores offer food, drugs, photo processing, and video centers, as well as cooking schools, banks, self-service checkout, Krispy Kreme donuts, and made-to-order Chinese food at some locations. The company also offers online grocery shopping.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.