Wessco International is a leading supplier and wholesaler of customized amenities and accessories (personal care products, bathroom accessories, and food and beverage serviceware) to the global lodging and cruise line industry. The company's clients have included Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Omni, Westin, Adams Mark, Bellagio, the Venetian, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Holland America, and Norwegian. Wessco International also offers customized onboard service products (tableware, hot towels, amenity kits, children's items, and passenger comfort items) to top airlines worldwide, such as American, Continental, British, KLM, AeroMexico, Singapore, and Cathay Pacific.

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.

Inergy, L.P. engages in retail marketing, sale, and distribution of propane to residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural customers. Inergy, L.P. serves approximately 800,000 retail customers from approximately 300 customer service centers in the United States. It also operates a natural gas storage business; a supply logistics, transportation, and wholesale marketing business, which serves independent dealers and multi-state marketers in the United States and Canada; and a solution-mining and salt production company. Inergy, L.P. company was formerly known as Inergy Holdings, L.P. and changed its name to Inergy, L.P. on November 06, 2010. Inergy, L.P. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.

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.

Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) operates more than 15 Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) stores located on bases on the East and West Coast and in Hawaii and Japan. MCX outlets offer a full line of retail products to active duty Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, their family members, and retirees. Other services provided by the MCCS include restaurants, temporary lodging, golf courses, and travel services. A proposal made by the The Bush Administration to merge the Marine Corps Exchange with its sister service counterparts -- the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and the Navy Exchange Service Command -- has been scrapped.

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.

Sweetwater Sound helps musicians and recording engineers make sweet music. The music technology retailer sells professional recording and live sound equipment, musical instruments (guitars, basses, keyboards, and drums), computers and software, and accessories through its website and catalogs. Manufacturers include Roland, Yamaha, and Kurzweil. The company was founded in 1979 by Chuck Surack as a four-track recording studio. The retail division grew out of Surack's need for a source for affordable, high-quality gear. Sweetwater Sound moved into its new corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2006. The following year, it acquired music retailer Lentine's Music from GE Capital for $4.5 million.

Lush's products are so luscious that you literally could eat them if you wanted to. The natural cosmetics firm is a UK-based manufacturer and retailer of environmentally friendly natural cosmetics and fragrances (including many vegan-friendly products). Lush company operates about 670 shops in some 44 countries worldwide, as well as a retail website and catalog. Most of Lush's products are handmade from natural (and edible) ingredients and carry an expiration date. The company's co-founder, Mark Constantine, formerly developed and supplied products for natural cosmetics behemoth The Body Shop, back in that company's development days. Co-founders Mark and Mo Constantine own Lush company with Helen Ambrosen.

Harry & David Holdings (HDH) wants customers to enjoy the fruits -- and flowers -- of its labors. Its Harry and David Direct Marketing catalogs and e-commerce unit offers gift baskets filled with gourmet foods, most notably its Royal Riviera pears, Moose Munch popcorn snacks, and Tower of Treats gifts. It also runs the Fruit-of-the-Month Club. Harry and David Stores sell fruit and flowers, gourmet specialties and wine at 125 factory outlet and specialty shops in more than 35 US states. The specialty food and gift retailer expanded its menu with the acquisition of the Wolferman's and Cushman brands in 2008. HDH is controlled by the New York investment firm Wasserstein Partners.

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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