IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC) satisfies inquisitive minds who want to use the Web to explore local hot spots, meet the right partner, find a contractor, and maybe even host a party or two. The Internet conglomerate owns more than 50 brands, including search engine Ask.com, local guide Citysearch (part of advertising network CityGrid Media), dating site Match.com, and home service provider network ServiceMagic. Other IAC holdings include shoe site Shoebuy.com and a majority stake in Connected Ventures, the parent company of racy college entertainment site CollegeHumor.com. Its current affairs Web magazine Daily Beast is merging with Newsweek.

Norkus Enterprises was founded when Francis Norkus opened his first grocery store, called Table Talk, in Freehold, New Jersey in 1935. Today Norkus' three sons, Gerry (president), Mark (VP), and Stephen (VP), run the firm, which is a member of the Foodtown Supermarket cooperative.They sell pasta shells by the Jersey sea shore. Norkus Enterprises operates about half a dozen grocery stores under the Foodtown and Super Foodtown banners in Monmouth County and Ocean County, New Jersey. The regional grocery chain also offers online shopping and home delivery in some areas

Alexon Group is an apparel retailer with more than 100 shops throughout the UK and Europe as well as about 900 concessions inside large UK department stores. It also markets clothing online. The company's brands include Alex & Co., Ann Harvey, Dash, Eastex, Kaliko, and Minuet. Undergoing changes designed to improve profits and focus, the company sold its Bay Trading subsidiary, which operated about 260 stores, to Rinku Group after placing the chain in administration in 2009. The rest of the Alexon Group did not go into administration but is suffering from slumping sales.

The Peacock Group has only just begun to display its full colorful strut, even though it's been fluttering around for more than a century. Founded in 1884 as Peacock's Penny Bazaar, the value-priced fashion retailer operates two chains: Peacock's, with 460 UK stores and about 45 franchised locations in Turkey, the Middle East, Ukraine, and Russia, sells women's and men's apparel and accessories; and about 380 Bonmarche shops that offer women's apparel in sizes 12 to 24. Peacock Group supplies its own stores, as well as several other chains, with branded women's, men's, and children's apparel and footwear. The company was taken private in 2006 in a deal backed by Goldman Sachs, Perry Capital, and Och Ziff.

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home products. It offers culinary and serving equipment, including cookware, cookbooks, cutlery, informal dinnerware, glassware, table linens, specialty foods, and cooking ingredients; and bridal and gift items under the Williams-Sonoma brand name. The company also provides home furnishing categories, including furniture, textiles, decorative accessories, lighting, and tabletop items under West Elm brand; bed and bath products under Pottery Barn brand; and children’s furnishings and accessories under Pottery Barn Kids brand name. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. sells its home products through five retail store concepts, which include Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma Home; seven direct-mail catalogs that comprise Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Bed and Bath, PBteen, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma Home; and six e-commerce Websites, which consist of williams-sonoma.com, potterybarn.com, potterybarnkids.com, pbteen.com, westelm.com, and wshome.com. As of January 31, 2010, it operated 610 retail stores, including 259 Williams-Sonoma, 199 Pottery Barn, 87 Pottery Barn Kids, 36 West Elm, 11 Williams-Sonoma Home, and 18 Outlet stores located in 44 states of the United States; Washington, D.C.; Canada; and Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Founded in 1939 by brothers Roger and Bill Slakey, the company became employee-owned in 1990. Slakey Brothers distributes heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and plumbing products through about 30 locations in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as well as online. The company also operates three retail plumbing showrooms and three distribution centers. Its fleet of about 100 trucks delivers most of its orders within a 200-mile radius. Slakey Brothers offers brands such as 3M, BrassCraft, Honeywell, Kohler, and Nutone to contractors, the government, industrial users, and retailers. Subsidiary The Plumbery is a kitchen and bath retailer with three showrooms.

Northern Tool rings up revenues through its catalogs (biggest sales channel), websites, and more than 60 retail stores in a dozen states. CEO Donald Kotula founded Northern Tool as a mail-order shop in 1981. Serious do-it-yourselfers put their kids to sleep with bedtime stories from the catalogs of Northern Tool & Equipment. Stocked with more than 27,000 products, the company offers an assortment of heavy-duty tools as well as construction and industrial equipment (such as air compressors, power generators, and pressure washers). Its primary customers include building contractors, automotive shops, and the do-it-yourself crowd. The firm also markets gadgets and gifts through its Kotula's division.

American Furniture Warehouse sells furniture and electronics at discounted prices through about a dozen retail locations in Colorado and via its website, which also features bridal and gift registries. The company has built a reputation as a home-spun, local furniture retailer. Jabs bought the company in 1975.

Lotte Shopping's department stores offer more than the usual shopping experience. The company is a leading retailer in South Korea with some 30 department and discount stores across the nation. It owns one of the largest retail chains in the country with facilities that are part of vast retail complexes that often include cinemas, shopping malls, hotels, theme parks, and wedding halls. It also has a store in Moscow (opened in 2007). In China, where Lotte Shopping is looking to grow, its 2009 purchase of Times Ltd., an operator of 65 hypermarkets and supermarkets in east China, boosted its retail presence there to about 75 stores. Lotte Shopping, which was established in 1979, is looking to grow overseas.

Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates supermarkets and retail outlets in Israel. It offers food and beverages products; non-food items, such as houseware products, toys, small electrical appliances, computers and computer accessories, entertainment and leisure products, and textile products; and near-food products comprising health and beauty aids, baby and young children products, cosmetics, and hygiene products. The company owns and operates 207 supermarkets under the Mega, Mega in Town, Shefa Shuk, Mega Bool, and Eden Teva brand names; and 260 non-food retail outlets under the Naaman, Vardinon, Sheshet, Kfar Hasha’ashuim, Rav-Kat, Dr. Baby, and All for a Dollar brand names. In addition, it owns, leases, and develops commercial properties. The company was formerly known as Blue Square – Israel Ltd. and changed its name to Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. in July 2010. The company was founded in 1988 and is based in Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel. Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. is a subsidiary of Alon Retail Ltd.

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