For Douglas Holding, there is no scent sweeter than perfume. The retail conglomerate operates about 2,000 stores in some two dozen European countries and the US. It is a leading perfume retailer in Europe with more than 1,100 perfumeries (445 in its home market Germany). In addition to perfume, Douglas Holding sells skin care and cosmetic products. The company's other retail divisions include jewelry and watches (Christ, Rene Kern), fashion (AppelrathCupper and Pohland), books (Thalia and Internet book seller buch.de), and confectionery (Hussel). While about two-thirds of the group's sales originate in Germany, its non-German operations are driving growth.

Bookazine Company, Inc. is an independent wholesale distributor of books and magazines, working with more than 25,000 publishers across the globe. In addition to its range of best sellers and new releases, Bookazine specializes in children's books, small press titles, regional publications, graphic novels and manga, gay and lesbian books, and periodicals. Clients have included major retailers (F.Y.E., Sam Goody), airport newsstands, and independent bookstores in the US and abroad. Bookazine was founded in 1929 by Ruwin and Jacob Kallman and has been family run for three generations. Today Robert and Richard Kallman lead the company as CEO and EVP, respectively.

FlorStar was part of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. until 1988, when management purchased the flooring division and created a separate company. At FlorStar Sales, the floor is the star. Florstar Sales, Inc. distributes floor coverings to retailers throughout the Midwest from four locations in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota. Florstar's product offerings include hardwoods, laminates, ceramic, porcelain, vinyl, rugs, and carpets from Armstrong, Interceramic, Milliken, Wilsonart, and Weyerhaeuser. From its four locations, Florstar Sales, Inc. serves nearly 5,000 customers in six additional Midwest states. In addition, it offers floor installation training and certification.

Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of plush animals and related products. The company’s merchandise includes various styles of animals to be stuffed; and clothing, shoes, and accessories for the stuffed animals. It also licenses its Build-A-Bear Workshop brand to third parties to manufacture and sell merchandise to other retailers. As of January 2, 2010, the company operated 345 company-owned Build-A-Bear Workshop retail stores, including 291 stores in the United States and Canada, 51 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 3 stores in France. In addition, its franchisees operated 65 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores in other international locations. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. also sells its products through a Web store. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Founded in 1891, Texas-based Samuels Jewelers was acquired by India's Gitanjali Gems Ltd., a jewelry maker and retailer, in late 2006. In addition to diamonds and gemstones, Samuels Jewelers knows something about millstones -- the bankruptcy kind (it has been thrice drawn into bankruptcy court since the early 1990s). Samuels sells fine jewelry items through about 85 jewelry stores in California, Texas, and about 15 other states; stores are primarily located in regional shopping malls, power centers, and strip centers. Samuels also operates some stand-alone stores and sells jewelry online at SamuelsJewelers.com. Its stores operate under the Samuels Diamonds and Samuels Jewelers banners.

Copart, Inc. provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It offers a range of services for processing and selling vehicles over the Internet, through its virtual bidding second generation Internet auction-style sales technology, to vehicle sellers, primarily insurance companies, banks and financial institutions, charities, car dealerships, fleet operators, vehicle rental companies, and the general public. The company’s services include online seller access, salvage estimation services, estimating services, end-of-life vehicle processing, virtual insured exchange, transportation services, vehicle inspection stations, on-demand reporting, DMV processing, flexible vehicle processing programs, buyer network, sales process, dealer services, direct services, and u-pull-it services, as well as CoPartfinder, an Internet-based used vehicle parts locator that provides vehicle dismantlers with resale opportunities for their salvage purchases. It primarily serves licensed vehicle dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers, and exporters, as well as the general public. As of July 31, 2009, the company operated 147 facilities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Copart, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Fairfield, California.

Empire Music distributes musical instruments, books, and related accessories to music educators in Canada and the US. Products include various books and instruments related to the Suzuki method of music education and theory, bells, drums, guitars, recorders, ukuleles, and xylophones (they even carry stepping stone-style xylophones and giant floor piano keyboards). It carries brands Suzuki Orff, Aulos Recorders, Challenger, and Emus. The company has been trading for more than a half-century.

3M Nederland finds that Post-it Notes work well in any language. The Dutch arm of US-based conglomerate 3M sells the parent's vast portfolio of consumer, commercial, and industrial products, serving markets such as electro/communications, office, industrial/transportation, and safety. Brands include such household names as Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite household cleaning products, Scotchgard protective products, Nexcare bandages, and Filtrete filters and air purifiers. 3M Nederland operates three manufacturing plants: one in Amersfoort, 3M ECC, which produces heat shrink tubes; another in Breda, 3M Filtrete, which makes filter materials; and a plant in Kerkrade that produces fluorpolymers, elastomers, and resins.

Flying Brands' company products are continually flying off the shelves. Flying Brands Limited company sells animal and bird feed, audio books, flowers, and other items through its mail-order operations. It operates under such names as Flying Flowers and Gardening Bird Supplies. Flying Brands Limited company was established in the 1980s as a carnation exporter and has expanded each year since then. Flying Brands owns UK greeting cards business Greetings Direct, as well. Flying Brands Limited company also operates retail websites for each of its subsidiaries, including Flowers Direct and Garden Centre Online. Flying Brands sold its Benham Collectibles business to The Stanley Gibbons Group in late 2010.

Lipsey's fancies itself a bit of a hot shot. The company distributes firearms to federally licensed dealers nationwide. It sells regular, lefty, and youth models of shotguns, handguns, rifles, and revolvers by manufacturers that include Beretta, Browning, Glock, North American Arms, Ruger, and Winchester. Lipsey's also carries ammunition, scopes, binoculars, holsters, and other accessories. The company also sells guns made exclusively for the company. Lipsey's was founded in 1953 as S & S Wholesale Sporting Goods and was purchased by the Lipsey family, including chairman and CEO Richard Lipsey, in 1977.

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