His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a dog named Nipper listening to a wind-up disc gramophone and tilting his head. In the original, unmodified 1898 painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The painting was also famously used as the trademark and logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later known as RCA Victor. The painting was originally offered to James Hough, manager of Edison-Bell in London, but he declined, saying "dogs don't listen to phonographs". Barraud subsequently visited The Gramophone Co. of Maiden Lane in London where the manager William Barry Owen offered to purchase the painting if it were revised to depict their latest Improved Gramophone model. Barraud obliged, and Owen bought the painting from Barraud for £100.
Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world and is the world's largest retailer of choice and prime beef, organic foods, rotisserie chicken, and wine as of 2016. Costco is ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Costco uses a club warehouse wholesale retailer channel of distribution while also selling their private label brand directly to consumers.
The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Varennes, Quebec. It has more than 400 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique, and PJC Santé banners. The company was once the third largest distributor and retailer of pharmaceuticals and related products in North America, with nearly 2,200 drug stores. Its American stores have been sold to Rite Aid.
Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the largest non-grocery retail cooperative in the United States.
The Fairchild Group is a Canadian business conglomerate headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Fairchild Group operates various media properties under the Fairchild Media Group name. Fairchild currently operates the Cantonese channel Fairchild TV, Cantonese & Mandarin radio network Fairchild Radio, and Mandarin channel Talentvision. Fairchild Group is also involved in film production, real estate development, retail, telecommunications and wholesale trade.
Esquires also known as Esquires Coffee, or Esquires Coffee Houses is an international coffeehouse chain comprising more than 130-plus stores in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, the Middle East, China and Australasia.
United Furniture Warehouse (UFW) was a Canadian retail furniture chain operating locations in Western Canada and Ontario. The company billed itself as "offering warehouse-style shopping at the lowest possible prices." The company was founded in 1981 by John Volken, an immigrant who arrived in Canada from East Germany in 1960 at the age of 18. It "was one of the first businesses to sell at warehouse prices and to operate without commission sales staff or in-store decor."
Off The Wall, founded in 1984 and closed in early 2011, was a former Canadian retailer of urban apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment. Off the Wall provided a wide variety of brands and styles all in one place.
Coast to Coast Tickets is an American online marketer of event tickets, also known as a ticket broker, operating in the secondary ticket market. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Cymax Group Technologies Ltd. is a privately held eCommerce company headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The Cymax Group of brands includes two retail websites, Cymax Business and Home Square, which sell furniture and decor; plus Freight Club and Channel Gate, which are eCommerce logistics and technology enablement platforms.
Wren Kitchens is a privately owned British designer, manufacturer, and retailer of fitted kitchens, and fitted bedrooms. It has 106 stores.
Great Canadian Dollar Store Ltd. (GCDS) is a privately owned Canadian franchise dollar store. The discount merchandiser was founded in 1993 by Bud and Vivian Walker, with the set-up of a head office in Victoria, British Columbia and opening of the first BC store in Kamloops. 126 franchised stores are located across Canada, including the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. In 2015, Great Canadian Dollar Store was purchased by Kevin & Jane Kane of Quispamsis, NB.
Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global suppliers. It has offices and warehouses throughout the United States and in Canada, Germany, Ireland, China and the United Kingdom.
Nisbets is multinational distributor to the food-service sector. The company develops, retails and distributes commercial kitchen equipment, catering supplies and other hospitality products and services to hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes, schools and colleges. Nisbets is majority owned by Bunzl.
Merchandize Liquidators, LLC, is an American wholesale liquidator and distributor in the closeouts industry. Working with manufacturers and department stores, the company specializes in buying all available overstock merchandise. The company works on bringing products from Macy’s, Sears, CVS and other major US retailers, to the secondary markets. The company also sells new, overstock, surplus, used and salvaged goods. Clients include retailers, eBay sellers, Flea Market vendors, and jobbers. Merchandize Liquidators was cited by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US in 2012 2011 and 2010.
Texas Precious Metals, based in Shiner, Texas, is one of the largest precious metals dealers in the United States. The company reported annual revenues of $180.1 million in 2013 and $153.2 million in 2014. The company is recognized as a market maker for United States Mint products and is an official distributor for the Perth Mint of Australia.
Freshlocal Solutions Inc. is an online grocer, wholesale distributor, store operator and software licensing company based in Vancouver. The company was founded as Small Potatoes Urban Delivery in 1997. In September 2021 Freshlocal went under new executive leadership which resulted in key leadership changeover and in May 2022 it filed for bankruptcy protection.
Childrensalon is a British retailer and manufacturer of high-end fashion and luxury clothes for children. It is based in Royal Tunbridge Wells, England. The company was founded in 1952.
Off-price is a trading format based on discount pricing. Off-price retailers are independent of manufacturers and buy large volumes of branded goods directly from them. The off-price retail model relies on the purchase of over-produced, or excess, branded goods at a lower price, thus being able to sell to consumers at a discount compared to other stores which purchased an initial run. Among the largest retailers of this type are TJX Companies and Ross Stores. The model is more common in countries that import fashion-oriented or household goods, as the discount role in producer countries is usually filled by factory outlets or small-scale open-air marketplaces.
Saatva is an American privately held e-commerce company that specializes in luxury mattresses and is based in New York City with a second major office in Austin, Texas. Launched in 2011, Saatva was one of the first companies to implement the direct-to-consumer business model. The fastest growing major direct-to-consumer mattress brand from 2019 to 2021, Saatva is estimated to bring in close to $500M in direct annual revenue in 2022 with no wholesale channels. In 2015, Saatva ranked #101 on Inc's list of the top 500 retailers for the year. Saatva mattresses launched Loom and Leaf, an eco-friendly brand of luxury memory foam mattresses and their high-end Zenhaven mattress in 2016.
