The chain was co-founded in 1988 by Joe Barreiro and CEO Leonard Flax (and named after Flax's wife). Kate's Paperie believes the medium is the message. The luxury paper products retailer stocks some 4,000 papers from more than 40 countries, plus other items, including desk accessories, gift wrap, journals, organizers, photo albums and frames, stationery, and more than 1,500 ribbons from around the world. With five locations (one in Connecticut and four in New York City) and an e-commerce site, the upscale stationer carries designer brands such as Anna Griffin, Molly West, and Cavallini. Kate's also offers custom printing services, corporate purchase programs, and, of course, gift wrapping.

Connolly Music Company, Inc. imports and distributes strings for basses, cellos, guitars, mandolins, violas, and violins. It is the only US importer of Austria-made Thomastik-Infeld strings and rosin. Products include specialty strings for electric, acoustic, classical, and jazz guitars; acoustic and jazz basses; and custom sets as well as various cored strings for orchestral instruments. The company supports the American String Teachers Association, the Suzuki Association of America, and the Perlman Music Program. Connolly Music was founded in 1970 by John Connolly. His son Jake is president and owner.

Star Gas Partners, L.P. operates as a home heating oil distributor and services provider in the United States. It provides its services to residential and commercial customers to heat their homes and buildings. As of September 30, 2009, the company sold home heating oil to approximately 374,000 full service residential and commercial home heating oil customers and propane to approximately 7,000 propane customers. It also sells home heating oil, gasoline and diesel fuel to approximately 34,000 customers. In addition, Star Gas Partners installs, maintains, and repairs heating and air conditioning equipment, as well as provides ancillary home services, including home security and plumbing to approximately 11,000 customers. Kestrel Heat, LLC operates as the general partner of the company. Star Gas Partners was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

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.

STAEDTLER-Mars is the Canadian distribution arm of Germany-based STAEDTLER Group. The company's inventory includes pencils, pens, markers, sharpeners, and other writing and drawing implements, as well as inkjet cartridges, drawing boards, and rulers. It also distributes Eberhard Faber products. STAEDTLER-Mars, which was incorporated in 1960, has additional sales offices in Quebec and British Columbia. STAEDTLER-Mars Ltd. plans to merge its Canadian and US offices into one unit in 2010. The new team will be headquartered in Canada.

MBS Textbook Exchange gives college kids around the country some spending cash at the end of every semester. In addition to distributing new and used textbooks to more than 4,000 colleges and universities nationwide, the company also develops and sells the systems that enable bookstores to sell books and buy them back. MBS is organized into MBS Wholesale, MBS Direct, and MBS Systems. The wholesale division supplies campus bookstores, while the direct division provides books to private K-12 schools, vocational schools, teaching hospitals, and community colleges. The company was founded in 1909 as The Missouri Store Company and became MBS Textbook Exchange in 1980.

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.

Paper is as good as gold for Gould Paper, one of the largest distributors of business and printing papers in North America. The paper merchant distributes and sells paper to multiple markets, including fine paper, commercial printing, lithography, newsprint, direct-mail, catalog, envelope, and specialty paper companies. Gould also supplies paperboard, which is used in packaging material for consumer and industrial products, and operates paper-converting operations. Touting sales of 2 million tons of paper products annually, Gould Paper Corporation company represents most major domestic and offshore mills. Founded in 1924, Gould Paper sold a majority stake in Gould Paper Corporation company to the US arm of Japan Pulp & Paper (JPP) in 2010.

Academy is near the head of the class among sporting goods retailers. It is one of the leading full-line sporting goods chains in the US with about 120 Academy Sports + Outdoors stores in Texas and some 10 other states in the Southeast. Academy's low-frills stores carry clothing, shoes, and equipment for almost any sport and outdoor activity, including camping, golf, hunting, fishing, and boating. The company, which also operates a catalog and e-commerce site, dates back to a San Antonio tire shop opened by Max Gochman in 1938. The business moved into military surplus items and during the 1980s began focusing on sports and outdoor goods. The Gochman family still owns Academy and is run by CEO David Gochman.

West Marine, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of boating supplies primarily in the United States. It operates in three segments: Stores, Port Supply, and Direct Sales. The Stores segment operates stores that principally offer hardware and other supplies needed for day-to-day boat maintenance and repairs. The Port Supply segment distributes marine supplies to domestic and international wholesale customers, including businesses involved in boat sales, boat building, boat commissioning and repair, yacht chartering, marina operations, and other boating-related activities. This segment also sells its products to government and industrial customers who use the company’s products for boating and non-boating purposes. The Direct Sales segment operates as an e-commerce website and virtual call center, which provides customers with access to a range of products, product advisor tips and technical information, and product videos and customer-submitted product reviews. As of January 2, 2010, West Marine offered its products through 335 company-operated stores in 38 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada, as well as through 2 franchised stores in Turkey. West Marine company also sells its products through its call center channel and on the Internet. West Marine was founded in 1976 and is based in Watsonville, California.

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