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.

Food 4 Less stores average about 56,000 square feet and in addition to deeply discounted groceries sell fresh produce, bakery and dairy items, ethnic foods, and meat to compete against supercenters and warehouse clubs.Food 4 Less Holdings operates about 145 price-impact warehouse stores under the Food 4 Less banner in Southern California, Illinois, Indiana, and Nevada. A division of grocery giant Kroger, the company operates about 80 of Food 4 Less' no- frills stores operate in the crowded Southern California grocery market where it competes with Safeway-owned Vons, Stater Bros., and relative newcomer Wal-Mart Stores, which has set its sights on Southern California for expansion.

Rip Griffin Truck Service Center tries to make sure you never go hungry again (in Scarlett O'Hara's words), at least when you're driving on the highways of North Texas. Rip Griffin's network of about 10 travel centers offers truckers, tour buses, and other travelers a smorgasbord of features, such as convenience stores, fuel, game rooms, laundry facilities, restaurants, and showers. Locations also offer truck maintenance and repair services. In addition to its travel center business, Rip Griffin sells Freightliner trucks through two Texas dealerships and provides fuel transportation services. In 2004 CEO Rip Griffin sold the company to Ohio-based TravelCenters of America.

Tesco PLC, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a grocery retailer offering various food, non-food, and other retailing services. It operates various store formats that offer food and non-food products, such as fresh produce, wines and spirits, in-store bakery, ready-meals, sandwiches, DVDs, books, electrical equipment, homewares, clothing, health and beauty items, and garden furniture. The company also provides telecom services, including mobile network, home phone, Internet access, Internet phone, and various telecom products and services in store and online. In addition, it offers financial and insurance services ranging from savings accounts and credit cards to car and travel insurance. The company operates in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, and the United States. As of May 1, 2009, it operated 4,308 stores. The company has a collaboration agreement with Microsoft Corporation to launch home video viewing. Tesco PLC was formerly known as Tesco Stores (Holdings) Limited and changed its name to Tesco PLC in 1983. The company was founded in 1919 and is based in Cheshunt, United Kingdom.

HOM Furniture, Inc is a middle-market to high-end home furnishings retailer operating more than a dozen stores in Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. HOM stores offer wooden (cherry, maple, oak, pine), upholstered (including leather), and patio furniture, as well as mattresses, area rugs, and other decorative accessories. Many locations also provide free design consultations to assist customers with buying decisions. In addition to its namesake chain, HOM operates Gabberts Design Studio & Fine Furnishings, based in Edina, Minnesota. HOM's retailing roots reach back to 1973, when CEO Wayne Johansen established JC Imports, the chain's forerunner.

Since 1963 Fast Retailing has been working to fill the gap in Japan's casual wear market. The company operates about 815 Uniqlo (a combination of the words unique and clothing) stores in Japan and another 145 Uniqlo shops in foreign markets, including China, France, South Korea, the UK and the US. The first Uniqlo store opened New York City in 2005. Fast Retailing -- often described as the "Gap of Japan" -- sells "cheap chic" basics (similar to US-based Old Navy or Spain's Zara, but undercutting its competitors more drastically) for men, women, and children. It buys most of its clothes from 60 factories in China. Founder and chairman Tadashi Yanai and his family own nearly half of Fast Retailing.

Jeg's Automotive Inc. operates a warehouse, chassis shop, call centers, and a distribution center in the metropolitan Columbus area. It's a family affair at Jeg's Automotive, and it's even a little racy. The family-owned retail speed shop business is owned and operated by four racing brothers - Jeg Jr., John, Troy, and Mike Coughlin - who took over the business their dad, Jeg Sr., started back in 1960. Jeg's Automotive operates online and from a pair of stores in Ohio (in Columbus and Reynoldsburg) to supply high-performance parts for domestic and import cars, street rods, Pro Stock cars, and sportsman-level and bracket racing cars.

A leading home furnishings retailer, Value City Furniture (VCF) is operated by American Signature and is part of its network of some 130 superstores in 20 US states in the East, Midwest, and Southeast. It offers furniture for the bedroom, dining room, and living room, as well as mattresses, bedding, and other accessories. VCF stores feature furnishings from more than 30 manufacturers and even carry American Signature's private-label furniture and bedding. The retailer also peddles its wares online. Founded in 1948, VCF is owned by holding company Schottenstein Stores.

The only soft rock you'll find at Southwest Boulder & Stone is on the radio. Southwest Boulder & Stone Inc. provides natural stone, manufactured stone, and masonry products to the building trade in Southern California. Its products include boulders (real and manufactured), stones, bricks, pebbles, and assorted other sized rocks. Paving stones, crushed sand, and decomposed granite are available for paths between the boulders. Southwest Boulder & Stone Inc. also supplies a range of big equipment for transporting and placing large rocks and offers landscaping seminars. Operating from three locations in California, Southwest Boulder & Stone was founded in 1989.

Grafton Merchanting GB believes in building a solid store base for its customers. A subsidiary of the Grafton Group, the company is the umbrella organization of its parent's building supply retail operations in the UK, which include Buildbase, Jackson Building Centres, Hirebase, Civils & Lintels, Plumbase, PDM, L&G Forest Products, Hendricks Lovell, Acorn Insulation, and Keelsupply. Its network consists of more than 400 locations, which sell lumber, hardware, tools, plumbing and electrical supplies, gardening items, and other building materials, as well as offer hiring services. Grafton Merchanting also sells online. Formed in 2008, the firm brought together Buildbase with Grafton Group's other retail banners.

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