Gabberts Design Studio & Fine Furnishings offers high-end furnishings in a variety of styles -- ranging from traditional to contemporary and from casual to refined -- for your living room, dining room, family room, bedroom, and home office. Gabberts' 63,000-square-foot store in Edina, Minnesota employs in-house interior designers, which it considers a competitive advantage. Founded in 1946 by Don Gabbert as a tire and appliance store, the company was owned and run by the Gabbert family until it was acquired by HOM Furniture in 2008. Gabberts' new owner continues to operate the business under the Gabberts banner.

A chic alternative to the mall sprawl of the suburban shopping center, Elisa Wen's Walnut Creek and San Francisco stores offer 14 different lines of clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, and shoes. The upscale purveyor of women's and children's apparel offers ready-to-wear items such as Hudson jeans and Splendid tee shirts, as well as a wide array of cocktail wear, including evening outfits from Catherine Malandrino, D & G, Miguelina, and Rebecca Taylor. The stores also sell items under such brands as a L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, True Religion, Rock & Republic, Susana Monaco, and Michael Stars.

EmbroidMe is on the fast track. As a franchise operation, EmbroidMe.com Inc. offers custom embroidery, screen printing, and promotional products through about 350 shops in nearly 10 countries (including Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US). Stores specialize in emblazoning custom designs on items such as golf shirts, ball caps, towels, uniforms, jackets, and bags, as well as promotional fare (pens, mouse pads, and mugs). EmbroidMe outlets feature brand-name apparel (such as adidas, Liz Claiborne, and Nike Golf) and its own private-label products. EmbroidMe.com Inc. is part of United Franchise Group. It was founded in 2000 by Ray Titus, the group's CEO.

Pilot offers a salve to those suffering from white-line fever. Its Pilot Travel Centers LLC, a joint venture between Pilot and CVC Capital Partners, runs more than 300 truck stops in some 40 states. Each features restaurant chains such as Subway, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Pilot has fuel islands large enough to service several 18-wheelers at a time and private showers. Pilot Truck Care Centers provide TLC for big rigs. The firm also owns and operates about 45 convenience stores under the Pilot Food Mart banner in Tennessee. James Haslam II got Pilot off the ground in 1958 as a gas station that sold cigarettes and soft drinks; now his son, CEO James Haslam III, pilots the firm. The Haslam family owns the company.

Founded in 1963, Leslie's is majority owned by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners. Leslie's Poolmart is the big fish of pool product retailers. The company sells pool and spa chemicals, cleaning and testing equipment, pumps, covers, and recreational items through some 620 stores in some 35 states, mostly in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. The company also sells its products through catalogs and its website. Leslie's makes chlorine tablets and repackages other chemicals to be sold under the Leslie name as well. Pool chemicals, major equipment, and parts account for a majority of the company's sales.

Groupe Bikini Village inc. was founded in 1978. Groupe Bikini Village (formerly Groupe Les Ailes de la Mode) sells itsy bitsy, teeny weeny bikinis, as well as all types of swimwear, travel clothing, and beach and swimming accessories for men and women through more than 60 Bikini Village and Ocean Bikini Village boutiques in Quebec and Ontario. Groupe Bikini Village sold its unprofitable Les Ailes department store subsidiary in 2005 and adopted the name of its remaining Bikini Village business. In 2004 Groupe Bikini Village emerged from bankruptcy court protection as Groupe Les Ailes de la Mode. It was known as Les Boutiques San Francisco prior to its bankruptcy filing in late 2003.

Big Dog Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of footwear and accessories for men and women in the United States. It also engages in developing, marketing, and retailing lifestyle collection of consumer products, including active wear, casual sportswear, accessories, and gifts for men, women, and children. The company operates in two segments, TWC and Big Dog Sportswear. The TWC segment operates footwear and accessories retail stores. Its products include work, formal, sport and active, casual, and all-weather footwear, as well as sandals, boots, slippers, and accessories. This segment also offers its products through catalog and Internet. As of December 31, 2007, it operated 186 stores in 38 states and the District of Columbia. The Big Dog Sportswear segment offers adult unisex activewear and casual sportswear, including screen-printed and embroidered t-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, knit and woven casual shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, loungewear, boxer shorts, swimwear, and sleepwear; big-size apparel; and graphic t-shirts, shirts, fleece items, infant and toddler one-pieces, boxer shorts, dresses, and shorts for infants, toddlers, kids, and the youth. It also offers adult's and children's non-apparel items, including pet products, plush animals and other toys, sporting goods, stationery, calendars, and lunch boxes. In addition, this segment sells its products through catalog and Internet. As of March 1, 2008, it operated 100 retail stores. The Walking Company Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.

Founded in 1946, EWM's current incarnation resulted from a series of buyouts, the last of them by the company's own management, led by CEO Philip Day in 2002. In 2005 EWM acquired Inverness-based kilt-maker Hector Russell. Get a taste as well as a wrap of Scotland at Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM). A niche retailer specialising in womens and mens wear and traditional Scottish products and gifts, EWM operates some 190 shops throughout the UK. The retailer also operates about 95 tourist shops and more than 25 larger stores that sell apparel, gifts, and other items. More than 30 EWM shops include dining facilities, and more than 10 sell single malts and blended whiskies.

Calloway’s Nursery is an independent Texas-based garden center founded by local nurserymen, Jim Estill, John Cosby, and John Peters. Calloway’s operates 17 stores in the Dallas and Fort Worth market and two stores in the Houston market. More than half of the company’s employees are Texas Certified Nursery Professionals.Calloway’s opened its first store in the spring of 1987 in Richardson, Texas and by the end of that spring had opened three more stores in the Dallas area. Calloway’s continued to grow rapidly expanding into the Fort Worth market and entering the Houston market through an acquisition. In 1999, Calloway’s acquired Houston-based Cornelius Nursery.

The Hart retail organization took root in Eastern Canada in 1960, founded by company executive chairman Mr. Harry Hart. A single store was established in the then rural Québec community of Rosemère, just north of the Montréal metropolis. By systematically recognizing market opportunities, Mr. Hart gradually built a modest chain of junior department stores catering to the everyday needs of the grass-roots consumer.

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