Aaron Brothers has its hand in custom-framing and crafting. Aaron Brothers, Inc. opened its first shop in Los Angeles in 1946; today it operates some 150 stores in about 10 states. Its stores are located mostly in Texas and in the western US, but also reach to Georgia and Virginia. Aaron Brothers stores offer ready-made frames and mattes, art supplies, and custom framing services. A subsidiary of big brother hobby-retailer Michaels Stores, Aaron Brothers stores average about 5,600 sq. ft. and offer its customers some 7,100 products. Parent company Michaels Stores was taken private in 2006 by a pair of private equity firms (Bain Capital Partners and The Blackstone Group).

The Birthdays concept was later launched in 1986. Clinton Cards purchased its rival Birthdays in 2004 and runs the unit as a separate business. Amid economic turmoil and slowed consumer spending, however, Birthdays collapsed into administration (the equivalent of bankruptcy in the US) in 2009. You say it's your birthday? Well, your friends better run to a Birthdays store for those cards! The company operates about 200 (down from more than 400) Birthdays stores in the UK and Ireland offering discount greeting cards and party supplies for every occasion. Founded in 1966 as Ron Wood Greeting Cards, the company was originally a distributor of cards and gift wrap until the mid-1970s when it opened three card 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.

FragranceNet.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of brand name fragrances and related products over the Internet. The company’s products include fragrances, scented candles, aromatherapy, and hair care products. It operates an online store that engages in the sale of brand name fragrances, bath and body products, gels, candles, hair care products, powders, and soaps directly to the consumer. The online store provides search facility by price, name, and type of scent. The online store’s other features include reminder club and online tracking of products. FragranceNet offers its customers approximately 6,000 products. The products sold by FragranceNet.com, Inc. include major brands, hard-to-find, and discontinued items. FragranceNet.com, Inc., through its subsidiary FragranceNet Wholesales, Inc., engages in the wholesale sale of fragrances and related products. FragranceNet.com, Inc. is headquartered in Deer Park, New York.

Chesbro Music Co. distributes musical instruments, printed music, and music-related gifts through print and online catalogs in addition to its Idaho headquarters. Chesbro sells band and orchestra instruments, guitars, karaoke accessories, DJ equipment, and other musical accessories by Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, Yamaha, Mesa Boogie, and others. The printed music division represents more than 200 music publishers and hosts workshops and clinics each year. Chesbro is owned and run by fourth generation Chesbro family members.

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.

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.

The year was 1899. Jardine Cycle & Carriage began its life in Kuala Lumpur as Federal Stores, a trader in nutmegs and other sundries, and it became Cycle & Carriage within the same year, selling everything from soap to writing paper and simple machine parts. We soon began to sell bicycles, motorcycles and cars, moving our headquarters to Singapore in 1926.The history of Jardine Cycle & Carriage is inextricably linked to the evolution of the motor car and the emergence of Singapore and Malaysia as independent modern states. Our story reveals fluctuating fortunes as the transportation industry was subject to economic cycles, two world wars and changing government policies.What has stood out through the years despite a rapidly changing environment is the resilience to adapt and grow though our unwavering commitment to achieve excellence in our products and services, and efficiency in our operations, which are still hallmarks of Jardine Cycle & Carriage till this day.

The chain was acquired by Tiffany in 2002, but Tiffany sold Little Switzerland to NXP Corporation for $32.9 million in 2007. There's nothing neutral about Little Switzerland's definitively upscale stores. The company operates about 25 mostly duty-free stores that sell jewelry, watches, crystal, china, and other gift items priced from $20 to more than $10,000. Its stores, located on 11 Caribbean islands and in Key West, Florida, appeal to tourists (mostly from the US) looking to avoid the import taxes they would pay at home -- especially passengers on the cruise ship lines that ply the waters in those areas.

Books-A-Million, Inc. operates as a book retailer in the southeastern United States. The company operates superstores and traditional bookstores that offer a selection of hardcover and paperback books, magazines, and newspapers. It also offers other merchandise, including gifts, cards, collectibles, magazines, music, and DVDs, as well as coffee, tea, and other edible products. The company also offers its products over the Internet at Booksamillion.com. It markets its products under the trademarks of Books-A-Million, BAM! Books-A-Million, Bookland, Books & Co., Millionaire’s Club, Sweet Water Press, Thanks-A-Million, Big Fat Coloring Book, Up All Night Reader, Read & Save Rebate, Readables Accessories for Readers, Kids-A-Million, Teachers First, The Write-Price, Bambeanos, Hold That Thought, Book$mart, BAMM, BAMM.com, BOOKSAMILLION.com, Chillatte, Joe Muggs Newsstand, Page Pets, JOEMUGGS.com, FAITHPOINT.com, Faithmark, Joe Muggs, Anderson’s Bookland, Snow Joe, American Wholesale Book Company, AWBC, and NetCentral. As of January 31, 2010, the company operated 223 stores, including 201 superstores under the Books-A-Million and Books & Co. brands; and 22 traditional stores under the Bookland and Books-A-Million brands in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Books-A-Million, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama.

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