Brown & Brown Chevrolet became part of AutoNation in 1998, but retained the Brown & Brown Chevrolet local market brand.Customers hope air conditioning comes standard on Brown & Brown Chevrolet's vehicles. Located in Mesa, Arizona, the company is part of the AutoNation family and markets new and used cars and trucks. Brown & Brown Chevrolet offers customers a chance to research (through a link to Kelley Blue Book), search, and get a free quote using its brownandbrownchevy.com Web site. The auto retailer peddles some 30 Chevrolet models, including SUVs, coupes, hatchbacks, vans, wagons, trucks, convertibles, and others.

Edible Arrangements has about 940 franchised locations in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, the UK, the Middle East, Italy, Turkey, and Hong Kong. CEO Tariq Farid started Edible Arrangements in 1999 after doing software consulting for a similar business. "Please don't eat the daisies" simply doesn't apply here. Edible Arrangements creates bouquets of hand-sculpted fresh fruit that are blooming with flower-shaped pineapples, shoots of melon slices, sprigs of skewered grapes, and an assortment of apple wedges, bananas, oranges, and strawberries. Customers can also add chocolate-dipped fruit to their arrangements. In addition to bouquets, the company offers smoothies and fruit salads at some shops.

Big 5 Sporting Goods has outgrown its name. The company, which started out with five army surplus shops in California in 1955, is a leading sporting goods retailer with about 385 stores in a dozen mostly Western states, including California, Washington, and Arizona. The company sells brand-name (adidas, Coleman, Easton) and private-label equipment, apparel, and footwear for indoor and outdoor activities such as camping, hunting, fishing, tennis, golf, and snowboarding. Big 5 has stuck with a neighborhood-store format (averaging approximately 11,000 square feet) instead of opening massive superstores. Big 5 Sporting Goods is run by its chairman and CEO Steven Miller, the son of company co-founder Robert Miller.

Michaels Stores is pretty crafty. The nation's #1 arts and crafts retailer owns and operates about 1,040 Michaels Stores canvassing the US and Canada. Michaels sells more than 40,000 products including art and hobby supplies, decor, frames, needlecraft kits, party supplies, seasonal products, and silk and dried flowers. Michaels also operates about 140 Aaron Brothers stores in California, Texas, and about half a dozen other states, which provide framing and art supplies. The retailer's Artistree subsidiary manufactures frames and molding for Michaels and Aaron Brothers stores. Michaels Stores was taken private in 2006 by the investment firms Bain Capital Partners and The Blackstone Group.

Sotheby’s, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an auctioneer of fine and decorative art, jewelry, and collectibles primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and France. The company operates in three segments: Auction, Finance, and Dealer. The Auction segment functions as an agent offering authenticated works of art for sale at auction. It also involves in brokering private sales of artwork. The Finance segment provides collectors and dealers with financing, which is secured by works of art that the company has in its possession or permits the borrower to possess. The Dealer segment invests in and resells artworks. It also operates as an art dealer for Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings, as well as French impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. In addition, this segment sells works of art directly to private collectors and museums, as well as acts as a broker in private purchases and sales of art. Additionally, it operates a retail wine shop in New York City, as well as offers a range of wines online. Sotheby's was founded in 1744 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Backcountry.com is an online retailer of outdoor and backcountry gear. The company sells products for activities such as skiing, backpacking, camping, snowboarding, rock climbing, kayaking, and mountaineering. Its offerings include more than 400 brands, such as Burton, K2, The North Face, Oakley, and Rossignol. Backcountry.com was founded in 1996 by CEO Jim Holland and president John Bresee. Backcountry.com is a subsidiary of Liberty Media, which owns more than 80% of the online retailer's equity.

Adventure 16, Inc. operates a chain of retail outdoor outfitters in Southern California. It has about half a dozen locations, plus a wholesale division that distributes accessories for backpacking, camping, climbing, and adventure travel. The company offers lifetime guarantees on all its private-label products. Its Web site offers resources, guides, and classes for outdoor journeys, a backpacker's checklist, an interactive map and reviews of recommended hikes, a gallery of adventure photos, and an outdoor blog written by staff. Adventure 16 was incorporated by Mic Mead in 1970.

ABS was founded in 1997 by president Craig Knouf. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh Americas. When you think of business, what systems do you associate with it? Associated Business Systems (ABS) thinks of big gadgets. ABS sells and services high-tech office machines (such as printers, copiers, fax machines, and scanners) made by companies such as Ricoh, HP, and Kyocera Mita. Other products include archival and retrieval devices, network imaging systems, and supplies for all the machines on the sales floor. Associated Business Systems operates more than a dozen locations in Oregon and Washington, and it services about 35,000 copiers and printers in both states.

Ellett Brothers is a middleman for mountain men and other outdoor enthusiasts. The wholesaler supplies over 60,000 products for hunting, shooting, camping, archery, and marine sports to small sporting goods retailers. Sales efforts include telemarketing and catalogs used by its retail customers; it also offers catalogs customized with retailers' names. Ellett Brothers buys products from some 800 manufacturers and suppliers and distributes them to more than 20,000 customers throughout the US. Ellett Brothers was founded in 1933 as a fishing supply business by Chilton Ellett Sr.

Sensational Beginnings (SB) helps kids start having fun early. The catalog and online merchant sells educational toys, furniture, and safety and child care items for infants and toddlers. (SB also operates a single store in Michigan.) Toy categories include science and nature, ride-ons, musical instruments, indoor active play, travel kits, and seasonal items. SB also offers gift-giving and parenting advice, a gift registry, and an online photo gallery of children using company products. Customers can shop by brand, category, or age group or get advice on age-appropriate toys and games. President Debra Shah, a former nurse specializing in mother and child medical care, founded the company in the early 1990s.

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