Lynchburg, VA

GazetteXtraJANESVILLE In an effort to prop up an underperforming Lab Safety Supply, company officials said Wednesday they will combine the business with another that operates warehouses across the country. What that means for employment levels at one of Janesville's largest employers is unclear. Officials of Chicago-based W.W. Grainger, which bought Lab Safety Supply in 1992, told industry and financial analysts Wednesday that the company will combine its Lab Safety Supply and Grainger Industrial Supply businesses. While it doesn't manufacture anything, Lab Safety markets and distributes safety and other products to more than 800,000 customers in North America through

J.Crew said it plans a $20 million expansion of its Lynchburg, Va., distribution center to facilitate the retailer’s goal of selling more clothes overseas. J.Crew is slated to open its first store outside the tates and start shipping orders to Europe by the end of 2011.

By Donna Loyle How the cataloger uses creative print and production strategies to stay connected to customers. Mention the name Hello Direct, and undoubtedly almost everyone will say the same thing: "Oh yes, the headset company." Like Harley-Davidson and motorcycles, Hello Direct usually is top of mind when it comes to telephone headsets. How the company nurtures and maintains "ownership" of that product is instructive for other catalogers looking to dominate their own categories. Hello Direct executives use a combination of strategies, not the least of which are exceptional creative and print production capabilities that help the company