The exceptional, winding path of a man who is inseparable from the empire he builtCombining a tobacconist, newstand, food mart, beer shop and general store, the convenience store has undergone many transformations over the last 35 years, ever since a man decided to turn it into his life's business. That man is Alain Bouchard. Strangely, few people know his name, even in Quebec, where he lives. He is, however, one of Canada's wealthiest entrepreneurs, as well as one of the most peer...

The authoritative account of the rise of Amazon and its intensely driven founder, Jeff Bezos, praised by the Seattle Times as "the definitive account of how a tech icon came to life."Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so...

In this “sure-fire all-American success story” (The New York Times Book Review), the founder of Wal-Mart describes the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to build the largest retailer in the world.“[A] wise and inspiring autobiography—Walton tells his quietly fantastic story with conviction and makes no bones about his mistakes.”—San Francisco ChronicleMeet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespu...

Starbucked will be the first book to explore the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fueled its success. Part Fast Food Nation, part Bobos in Paradise, Starbucked combines investigative heft with witty cultural observation in telling the story of how the coffeehouse movement changed our everyday lives, from our evolving neighborhoods and workplaces to the ways we shop, socialize, and self-medicate.In

Explore the broad, fascinating history of the Eaton's department store empire. Exhaustively researched and thoughtfully written by a prominent department store historian. Canada's largest and most well-known department store, Eaton's was an icon of Canadian culture. From its founding in 1869 to its famed catalogue and network of large stores spreading coast to coast, Eaton's offered something for everyone, in grand style. Relive the days when this remarkable store was a fixture in every Ca...

"Eminently enjoyable, Fools Rush In is a gossipy, in-depth look at a deal doomed from the start . . . Grade: A." — Entertainment WeeklyEvery era has its merger; every era has its story. For the New Media Age it was an even bigger disaster: the AOL-Time Warner deal.At the time AOL and Time Warner were considered a matchless combination of old media content and new media distribution. But very soon after the deal was announced things...

A true story of midlife transformation by the Napa Valley entrepreneur who put California's wine industry on the map.In 1965, after a notorious family feud, Robert Mondavi—then fifty-two years old—was thrown out of his family's winery. Far from defeated, Mondavi was dedicated to a vision of creating a superior wine. What has happened since that fateful day is one of the greatest success stories of American business. Today, the Robert Mondavi Winery is one of the mo...

With the extraordinary investigative acumen and sensitive narrative skills that informed her best-selling Little Gloria . . . Happy at Last, Barbara Goldsmith now gives us the most sensational case of a contested will in American history—weaving a hypnotic tale of vast wealth and moral corruption.When J. Seward Johnson, the pharmaceutical heir, died in 1983 at the age of eighty-seven, his six children (each of whom was already in possession of an immense fortune) were outr...

This biography recounts the rise of the American retail magnate who would go on to open London's famous Selfridge's department stores.In early 1909, a new retail emporium readied for business on the "wrong end of Oxford Street" in London. The man behind it was an odd little American with a waxed mustache and frenetic nature. Harry Gordon Selfridge had spent the previous twenty-five years in Chicago honing his skills at the venerable Marshall Field and Company befor...

Relive the history of Hudson's department store, a fixture in downtown Detroit , when retailing was an event and the department store ruled the shopping scene and was a Detroit icon. The J. L. Hudson Company redefined the way Detroiters shopped and enjoyed leisure time. Many Detroiters share memories of times spent shopping and enjoying spectacular events sponsored by Hudson's. A solid and lofty icon built by businesspeople who believed in their passion, Hudson's defined Detroit's downtown...

In 1836, Charles Henry Harrod found himself in a prison hulk awaiting transportation to Tasmania for seven years' hard labour. He had been convicted at the Old Bailey of receiving stolen goods, and this should have been the beginning of the end for his fledgling business and his family. And yet, in miraculously escaping his fate and vowing to turn his back on crime, he would become the much esteemed founder of the now legendary Harrods in London's fashionable Knightsbridge...

Fleischmann is a brand name that everyone recognizes, even if they have never baked bread from scratch, drunk a Fleischmann's gin and tonic, or used their vinegar and margarine. Charles Fleischmann, in fact, pretty much invented the brand name and this continued recognition is testimonial to his genius. At one time, teenagers around the country ate fresh yeast cakes by the millions to improve their skin, and corporate success was measured in pound of live yeast consumed per capita. And the...