Extex was founded in 1985. Extex can help kids to walk taller, bounce higher, and get wetter while playing. Extex, Inc. makes athletic equipment and outdoor toys for children. Products include anti-gravity boots, balls, inflatable bouncers, stilts, water guns, and zip lines. In addition to its own brand-name items, Extex features toys from such makers as Plasmart, Radica, and Radio Flyer. Extex, Inc. sells products through its website and ships across the continental US from its distribution center in California.

Founded in 1993 with about 60 stores, Calendar Club now operates more than 800 locations in the US and 250-plus outlets in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. The company also sells merchandise year round on its Web sites, including Calendars.com and DogBreedStore.com. Bookseller Barnes & Noble sold its majority stake in Calendar Club to CEO Marc Winkelman and the firm's management in 2009 for $7 million. During the holiday season, Calendar Club transforms empty retail space in Canada and the US into shops under the banners Calendar Club, San Francisco Music Box Company, and Go! Games, and Go! Toys. The company's temporary stores range in size from kiosks to some 6,000 square feet.

Snow & Rock are two key words constantly rolling in the back of the minds of adrenaline junkies, as well as the name of one of the suppliers of the equipment to satisfy the urge to plunge, climb, or swoop. The company, founded in 1982 by former managing director Mike Browne, operates more than 15 retail stores in the Central and Southern areas of the UK. Snow & Rock's stores specialize in apparel and equipment for skiing, snowboarding, climbing, and alpine hiking. The company peddles several top brands, including Salomon and The North Face. Snow & Rock also sells its products through a pair of catalogs and the Internet. Andrew Browsword, an entrepreneur, bought the company from Mike Browne in 2004.

Duval Motor company's Jacksonville, Florida, locations sell new Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, and minivans, along with used vehicles. Duval Ford also sells fleet units. Its Web site allows visitors to search new and used inventory, apply for financing, schedule service appointments, and purchase parts. The Internet hot shot has come a long way since it was founded in 1916. At that time Duval Ford sold black Model T Fords (and nothing else) for $360.Duval Ford likes online car buyers. The company is the region's #1 Internet Ford dealer and it ranks among the top 10 in the nation. Duval Ford is the flagship dealership of the Scott-McRae Group

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.

HMV Group plc,the entertainment retailer sells recorded music, videos and DVDs, books, and electronic games online and through some 400 HMV stores in five countries and from about 315 Waterstone's bookshops in the UK and Ireland. HMV has been closing stores amid a prolonged slump in sales caused by upheaval in the music business. To compensate for declining retail sales, HMV is going after the live music and ticketing market through the purchase of its former joint venture partner in live music MAMA Group. Sales at the company's Waterstone's bookstore chain are also down as shoppers buy fewer books.

Jerry Biggers Chevrolet (dba Biggers Chevy Heaven) certainly enjoys its size. The company, which has been in business for more than 40 years, sells Chevy Camaros, Corvettes, Impalas, and Yukons along with Isuzu Rodeos, Ascenders, and Amigos at a dealership in Elgin, Illinois. It also offers a variety of used car models. In addition to cars, Biggers Chevrolet sells aftermarket accessories like DVD players and truck bed liners and offers parts, service, and fleet sales. Its Web site allows customers to apply for financing, search new and used inventory, and schedule service. Help is available in English, Spanish, and Polish. The big dog at Biggers is owner Jim Leichter.

Founded by Samuel Silverman in 1912, today jewelry chain Ben Bridge Jeweler operates more than 70 stores in a dozen mostly western states, including Alaska and Hawaii. The company sells platinum, 14- and 18-karat gold jewelry, diamonds, watches, and bridal and anniversary fare from its mall-based stores and Web site. Ben Bridge married Silverman's daughter in 1922, bought out his father-in-law, and renamed the company after himself. Still run by the Bridge family, the company became a subsidiary of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2000.

The House of Harry Winston was established in 1932 by Harry Winston, the son of a New York jeweler. Harry Winston accounts for about 54% of its parent company's overall sales. Diamonds are Harry Winston's best friend. The retail arm of the Canadian mining company Harry Winston Diamond Corp. (formerly Aber Diamond Corp.), Harry Winston buys, designs, and sells premium diamonds and gems. With about 20 salons in locales, including Beijing, London, New York, Osaka, and Paris, the company's clientele includes sultans, starlets, and other affluent types who can afford the average $100,000 price tag for a Winston bauble. Harry Winston Inc. also sells its timepieces through more than 150 locations worldwide and online.

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.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.