Redcats has some red hot deals. It 90+ catalogs and websites offer apparel (including men's and women's plus-size clothing), home furnishings, outdoor gear, sporting goods, and fashion accessories. Major brands include Avenue, Brylane, Roaman's, The Sportsman's Guide, La Redoute, and Ellos. With a presence in more than 30 countries, Redcats has about 600 stores in France, its largest market (the US is second). Redcats USA oversees its US business; it also has major operations in Scandinavia. Nearly all the company's products are designed in-house, not surprising considering its parent is PPR, owner of fashion houses Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Redcats in 2010 purchased plus-size fashion website Castaluna.com.

Cash Converters International makes cash advances in return for used merchandise, including electronics, jewelry, musical instruments, tools, and more, which it resells to the public. The second-hand goods retailer and pawnbroker operates about 500 franchised and company-owned stores in its home country of Australia and another 20 countries worldwide, including Canada, the US, and the UK. The company also offers customers cash advances on their paychecks. Stores operate under the Cash Converters banner. Texas-based EZCORP acquired a 30% stake in the firm in 2009.

The Pampered Chef, a direct seller of more than 300 gourmet kitchen gadgets, cookware, cookbooks, and foodstuffs. It boasts about 60,000 independent sales reps who hawk their wares at in-home kitchen parties (à la Tupperware) throughout North America, Germany, and the UK. It's the largest of its kind in the US. Reps demonstrate product use and care and share recipes. As incentive (à la Mary Kay), reps can ultimately "earn" jewelry and trips. Founded in 1980 by home economist and educator Doris Christopher, The Pampered Chef was acquired by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2002.

What do adventurers Ted Baker and J. Peterman have in common? They're both charming, slick, stylish (of course), and sheer fabrications of marketing. British clothier Ted Baker is the official outfitter of trendy lads in the UK. For men on the go, Ted makes a wrinkle-proof suit, an anti-bacterial shirt, and a bed-in-a-box linen set whose pillows contain a special condom pocket. For the birds and the nippers, there are Ted Baker Woman, Teddy Boy, and Teddy Girl. Accessories include skinwear, fragrances, eyewear, and watches. Ted has about 70 retail shops located in the UK and internationally; "his" clothes can also be found in about 125 other stores. CEO Raymond Kelvin owns about 40% of Ted Baker.

Blish-Mize Co. has distribution centers in Colorado and Kansas. Aside from its wholesaling business, Blish-Mize operates toolmaker Hardware House with House-Hasson. Brothers-in-law David Blish, Edward Mize, and Jack Silliman founded the firm in 1871 to outfit wagon trains. President and CEO John Mize, Jr., represents the fourth generation of the family-owned company. Hardware supplier Blish-Mize distributes more than 52,000 products to hardware stores, home centers, lumberyards, and paint stores in a dozen states in the heartland of the US. Its catalog includes hand and power tools, lawn equipment, hardware, paint, heating and cooling products, housewares, plumbing and electrical supplies, and sporting goods.

ARI Network Services helps the manliest of industries attract smart shoppers. The company markets software for creating electronic parts catalogs and e-commerce websites in industries such as outdoor power equipment, power sports, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, appliances, and agricultural equipment. More than 18,000 dealers, manufacturers, and distributors use its applications. Its PartSmart program allows companies to collect, organize, and maintain product information for their suppliers and dealers, who can access and search the database. In addition, the company's e-commerce and communication applications process orders, product registrations, and warranty claims and perform search engine optimization.

Menard is owned by president and CEO John Menard, who founded the company in 1972. If sticks and stones break bones, what can two-by-fours and two-inch nails do? That is what Menard is wondering now that its biggest rivals (#1 home improvement giant The Home Depot and #2 Lowe's) are hammering away at its home turf. One of the largest home improvement chains in the Midwest, Menard has more than 250 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The stores sell home improvement products, such as floor coverings, hardware, millwork, paint, and tools. Unlike competitors, all the company's stores have full-service lumberyards.

Giordano was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lai. Think of Giordano International as the Old Navy of the Pacific Rim. Named after a New York pizzeria, the retailer is known for colorful, low-cost casual apparel and chipper service. Its store banners include Giordano, Giordano Ladies, Giordano Junior, and the budget-conscious Bluestar Exchange. Giordano operates or franchises more than 1,900 stores in China and Hong Kong (its primary markets), and a dozen other Asian countries, as well as Australia, and the Middle East. Expanding internationally it has opened its first stores in Egypt, Russia, and the US (in Los Angeles). Giordano International Limited company has been reducing its exposure to unprofitable garment manufacturing operations.

Stylish eyewear is de rigueur for De Rigo. The firm is the #3 eyewear company worldwide, behind Luxottica and Safilo. It makes sunglasses and eyeglasses under its own brand names (Sting, Police, Lozza) and licensed labels that include Etro, Fendi, Fila, Givenchy, and Pirelli. It sells through about 200 General Optica outlets in Spain and Portugal. In 2009 De Rigo sold a controlling stake in its Dollond & Aitchison (D&A) chain in the UK to Alliance Boots, which runs the business under the Boots Opticians banner. (De Rigo made almost half of its revenues from retail sales in the UK through D&A stores.) De Rigo also markets glasses in dozens of other countries (mostly in Europe, Asia, and South America).

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.

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