There might be a trip to Best Buy for some CDs or a television in your future. Best Buy Canada operates about 210 consumer electronics superstores under the three brands: Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, and Future Shop. The retail outlets offer televisions, computers, and DVD players, as well as cameras, CDs, DVDs, mobile phones, and software. In addition the Future Shop stores, which average 26,700 square feet and are smaller than Best Buy Canada locations, offer home appliances, office supplies, and maintenance services. Best Buy Canada also offers customers in-home and commercial technical support through its Geek Squad services unit. US-based retail giant Best Buy acquired the Future Shop chain in 2002.

Carter Lumber was founded by Warren E. Carter in 1932, and it continues to be a family-owned business. Carter Lumber has the answer when new home construction has you hollering "timber!" The company owns more than 200 lumber and home improvement stores in 10 states from Michigan to South Carolina. The company caters to both contractors and do-it-yourselfers, supplying them with lumber, plywood, roofing, windows, doors, plumbing and electrical products, heating equipment, tools, siding, and other products. The home improvement retailer also owns Carter-Jones Lumber, which runs a 17-acre lumberyard and custom millwork facilities in Ohio.

Guess?, Inc. designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It offers collections of denim and cotton clothing, including jeans, pants, overalls, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, and knitwear. The company also grants licenses to manufacture and distribute a range of products that include eyewear, watches, handbags, footwear, kids' and infants' apparel, leather apparel, swimwear, fragrance, jewelry, intimate apparel, and other fashion accessories. Guess?, Inc. markets its apparel under various trademarks, including GUESS, GUESS?, GUESS U.S.A., GUESS Jeans, GUESS? and Triangle Design, MARCIANO, Question Mark and Triangle Design, a stylized G and a stylized M, GUESS Kids, Baby GUESS, YES, G by GUESS, GUESS by MARCIANO, and Gc. The company sells its products through retail, wholesale, e-commerce, and licensing distribution channels. As of January 30, 2010, it operated 432 stores in the United States and Canada comprising 191 GUESS? retail stores, 107 GUESS? factory outlet stores, 52 GUESS by MARCIANO stores, 44 G by GUESS stores, and 38 GUESS? Accessories stores. Guess?, Inc. also operated 84 stores in Europe and 13 stores in Mexico. Guess?, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Founded in 1982 by two meat wholesalers, Bristol Farms returned to local management in late 2010 when grocery and wholesale giant SUPERVALU sold it to a team of local managers and West Coast investment firm Endeavour Capital. Bristol Farms operates more than a dozen upscale specialty supermarkets in California's Los Angeles,Orange,and Ventura counties, as well as a single store in San Francisco. Smaller than traditional supermarkets(its stores average about 14,000 sq. ft.),more than two-thirds of the company's sales come from fresh products.The grocery chain, which is known for its gourmet items and seasonable edible gifts,also sells wine and spirits.

Formed by the 1997 merger of Cotter & Company (which supplied the True Value chain) and ServiStar Coast to Coast, the retailer-owned hardware cooperative serves more than 5,000 retail outlets in some 55 countries. Stores offer home improvement and garden supplies, as well as appliances, housewares, sporting goods, and toys. In addition to the flagship True Value banner, members operate under the names of Taylor Rental, Grand Rental Station, Home & Garden Showplace, and Induserve Supply, among others. True Value also manufactures its own brand of paints. To survive against home improvement giants such as The Home Depot and Lowe's, True Value (formerly TruServ) is relying on the true value of service.

Pamida Stores Operating Co. offers more small-town values than a bandwagon of Republicans on the campaign trail. The rural retailer operates 200-plus Pamida general merchandise discount stores in about 15 states, mostly in the Midwest. The stores are located in small towns (5,500 people, on average), most of which are not served by mass merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart. Pamida's stores sell brand-name and private-label apparel, jewelry, health and beauty aids, housewares, electronics, and lawn and garden supplies. Most stores also sell groceries and two-thirds have in-store pharmacies. Formerly a division of ShopKo Stores, Pamida and ShopKo are portfolio companies of private equity firm Sun Capital Partners.

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.

Brantano keeps the whole family on its feet. Brantano NV provides a wide variety of women's, men's, children's, and sports shoes. Brentano also offers accessories such as handbags, wallets, insoles, and shoe care items. Its shoes range in price from 25-125 Euros. Brantano NV provides shoes under its own brands and international brands, including NIKE, Clarks, and Reebok. Brantano sells its footwear in about 285 stores in Belgium, including Luxembourg, and the UK, as well as about a dozen franchises the Middle East. Brantano NV plans to expand its operations in other European countries. Netherlands-based Macintosh Retail Group acquired the Belgian shoe retailer in early 2008.

Stein Mart, Inc. operates retail stores that offer fashion merchandise for men and women in the United States. Stein Mart company’s stores provide fashion apparel, accessories, gifts, linens, and shoes. As of January 30, 2010, it operated a chain of 267 retail stores in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Stein Mart, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

American Home operates three (down from a dozen in 2007) furniture and housewares stores in New Mexico under the American Home banner. Its products include mostly mid-priced (but some upscale) home furnishings (Kemp, Hillcraft, Natuzzi, DeCoro), lamps, bedding (Sealy, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic), rugs, dinnerware, related accessories, and gift registry and interior design services. Founded in 1936 as American Furniture Company by Emanuel Blaugrund, the company changed its name to American Home in 2000. The furniture retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2010 after closing most of its stores, including all of its locations in Arizona.

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