1.
Retail
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Retail markets and shops have a very ancient history, dating back to antiquity. Retailing involves the process of selling goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Retailers satisfy demand is identified through a supply chain, Once the strategic retail plan is in place, retailers devise the retail mix which includes product, price, place, promotion, personnel and presentation. In the digital age, a number of retailers are seeking to reach broader markets by selling through multiple channels. Digital technologies are changing the way that consumers pay for goods. Retailing support services may include the provision of credit, delivery services. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products, sometimes this is done to obtain final goods, including necessities such as food and clothing, sometimes it takes place as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping and browsing, it not always result in a purchase. Retail shops occur in a range of types and in many different contexts - from strip shopping centres in residential streets through to large. Shopping streets may restrict traffic to pedestrians only, forms of non-shop retailing include online retailing and mail order. Retail comes from the Old French word tailler, which means to cut off, clip, pare and it was first recorded as a noun with the meaning of a sale in small quantities in 1433. Like in French, the retail in both Dutch and German also refers to the sale of small quantities of items. Also see History of merchants, History of the market place, open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia and Assyria. These markets typically occupied a place in the towns centre, surrounding the market, skilled artisans, such as metal-workers and leather workers, occupied premises in alley ways that led to the open market-place. These artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, in ancient Greece markets operated within the agora, and in ancient Rome the forum. In antiquity, exchange involved direct selling, merchants or peddlers, the Phoenicians, noted for their seafaring skills, plied their ships across the Mediterranean, becoming a major trading power by 9th century BCE. The Phoenicians imported and exported wood, textiles, glass and produce such as wine, oil, dried fruit, the Phoenicians extensive trade networks necessitated considerable book-keeping and correspondence. In around 1500 BCE, the Phoenicians developed an alphabet which was much easier to learn that the complex scripts used in ancient Egypt
2.
Denver
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Denver, officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Colorado. Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the reference for the Mountain Time Zone. Denver is ranked as a Beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. With a 2015 estimated population of 682,545, Denver ranks as the 19th-most populous U. S. city, and with a 2. 8% increase in 2015, the city is also the fastest-growing major city in the United States. The 10-county Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 2,814,330 and ranked as the 19th most populous U. S. metropolitan statistical area. The 12-city Denver-Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 3,418,876, which ranks as the 16th most populous U. S. metropolitan area. Denver is the most populous city of the 18-county Front Range Urban Corridor, Denver is the most populous city within a 500-mile radius and the second-most populous city in the Mountain West after Phoenix, Arizona. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U. S. News & World Report and this was the first historical settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and by the summer of 1859 it was abandoned in favor of Auraria, Larimer named the townsite Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped the name would help make it the county seat of Arapaho County but, unbeknownst to him. The location was accessible to existing trails and was across the South Platte River from the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne, the site of these first towns is now the site of Confluence Park near downtown Denver. Larimer, along with associates in the St. Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria, in May 1859, Denver City residents donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express in order to secure the regions first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for passengers, mail, freight, and gold, in 1863, Western Union furthered Denvers dominance of the region by choosing the city for its regional terminus. The Colorado Territory was created on February 28,1861, Arapahoe County was formed on November 1,1861, Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the territorial capital, with its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver
3.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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Fort Lauderdale /ˌfɔərt ˈlɔːdərdeɪl/ is a city in the U. S. state of Florida,28 miles north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County, as of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census. The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average temperature of 75.5 °F and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, the district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012, greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants,63 golf courses,12 shopping malls,16 museums,132 nightclubs,278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts. Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War, the forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale, younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort, however, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, although control of the area changed between Spain, United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century. The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the New River Settlement before the 20th century, in the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6,1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children. The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, the fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County, Fort Lauderdales first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob, a group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery
4.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Englewood, Colorado
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The City of Englewood is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. As of 2010, the population was 30,255, Englewood is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. Englewood is located in the South Platte River Valley east of the Front Range, downtown is located immediately east of the confluence of Little Dry Creek and the South Platte River, between Santa Fe Drive and Broadway. Englewood is the fourth most populous city in Arapahoe County and, the history of Englewood begins when gold was discovered on what came to be called Little Dry Creek by William Green Russell, an early settler of the high plains, in 1858. Two years later, Thomas Skerritt, considered to be the founder of the city, established a home in the area, four years later the first road connecting Denver and Orchard Place was created by Skerritt himself using his own plough. In 1879 the first telephone arrived in the area,1883 was an important year, as it was the year that the Cherrelyn horsecar path was laid. The Cherrelyn trolley was and is an important city icon, being carried up Broadway by horse,1903 brought incorporation, but Skerritt was edged out by J. C. Jones as the first city mayor. Jones was a prominent landowner, having originally owned almost all of what is now north Englewood, the next two years brought the establishment of the first newspaper in the city, soon to be named the Herald. In 1905 Swedish National Sanitorium was founded, soon to become the massive present-day Swedish Medical Center,1906 brought the first pavement and street lights, and a year later the police and fire departments were established. In 1908 the famed Cherrelyn horse trolley stopped running,1948 was a start of a great period of change for the city. 2,500 acres on the Platte Canyon were purchased, and this ensured water independence from the powerful Denver Water, and in fact, Englewood provides water to most of the south metro area now due to its vast, early-established water rights. Soon after the city embarked on a building boom, most of the city was in fact built up by 1960. In 1965 City Park was sold to make way for Cinderella City, the developer provided the funds to create a vast city park network to replace the single City Park that the mall was built on. Thirty years later, the city demolished the mall in order to make way for a new, transit-oriented development that would also contain a new Civic Center, library. The RTD completed its southwest light rail corridor in 2000, in 2004 Englewood opened the Pirates Cove water park as part of a multimillion-dollar improvement package for the city parks system. In addition to Pirates Cove many improvements were made to the South Platte River trail system and to the Englewood Recreation Center, Englewood is a full-service city with its own, independent park, library, and public works systems. Englewood provides snowplow service to neighboring municipalities and water to a portion of the metro area. Englewood is located at 39°38′49″N 104°59′31″W, the city is 5,371 feet above sea level, higher than Denver
7.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
8.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
9.
Puerto Rico
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Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and briefly called Porto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea. It is an archipelago that includes the island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller ones such as Mona, Culebra. The capital and most populous city is San Juan and its official languages are Spanish and English, though Spanish predominates. The islands population is approximately 3.4 million, Puerto Ricos rich history, tropical climate, diverse natural scenery, renowned traditional cuisine, and attractive tax incentives make it a popular destination for travelers from around the world. Four centuries of Spanish colonial government transformed the ethnic, cultural and physical landscapes primarily with waves of African captives, and Canarian. In the Spanish imperial imagination, Puerto Rico played a secondary, in 1898, following the Spanish–American War, the United States appropriated Puerto Rico together with most former Spanish colonies under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Puerto Ricans are natural-born citizens of the United States, however, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. As a U. S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the level and may not vote for president. However, Congress approved a constitution, allowing U. S. citizens on the territory to elect a governor. A fifth referendum will be held in June 2017, with only Statehood, in early 2017, the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis posed serious problems for the government. The outstanding bond debt that had climbed to $70 billion or $12,000 per capita at a time with 12. 4% unemployment, the debt had been increasing during a decade long recession. Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen – a derivation of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, the terms boricua and borincano derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also known in Spanish as la isla del encanto. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city. The islands name was changed to Porto Rico by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898, the anglicized name was used by the US government and private enterprises. The name was changed back to Puerto Rico by a joint resolution in Congress introduced by Félix Córdova Dávila in 1931, the ancient history of the archipelago known today as Puerto Rico is not well known. The scarce archaeological findings and early Spanish scholarly accounts from the colonial era constitute the basis of knowledge about them. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, the first settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen who migrated from the South American mainland
10.
Kmart
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Kmart Corporation is a chain of big box department stores headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The chain purchased Sears for $11 billion in 2005, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation, the Kmart name was incorporated in 1916 while the first store didnt open its doors until 1962. At its peak in 2000, Kmart operated 2,171 stores including 105 Super Center locations, for the 2005 fiscal year under the new company, the Kmart store count was at 1,416 with only 55 Super Center locations. Currently, the chain is operating 734 stores with only 1 Super Center location remaining and this number will decrease further due to the previously announced closings that will take place in Q12017. It operates stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and it also used to operate stores in Canada, Mexico, and Eastern Europe. At the height of Kmarts popularity, the phrase Attention Kmart shoppers. Entered into the American pop psyche, appearing in films and other such as Troop Beverly Hills, Six Days Seven Nights, Rain Man, Beetlejuice, Madea Goes to Jail. Kmarts world headquarters were located in Troy, Michigan, in Metro Detroit, but since the purchase of Sears, it has relocated to Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Kmart also exists in Australia and New Zealand, although it now has no relation to the American stores except in name, in 1912, Kresge incorporated the S. S. Kresge Corporation with eighty-five stores. The company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 23,1918, during World War I, Kresge experimented with raising the limit on prices in his stores to $1. By 1924, Kresge was worth approximately $375 million and owned real estate of the value of $100 million. Early century growth remained brisk, with 257 stores in 1924 growing to 597 stores operating in 1929, Kresge retired as president in 1925. The Great Depression reduced profitability and resulted in store closings, with the reduced to 682 in 1940. After the war shopping patterns changed and many moved out of the cities into the suburbs. The Kresge company followed them and closed and merged many urban stores so that by 1954 the total number of stores in the US had declined to 616. Under the leadership of executive Harry Cunningham, S. S. Kresge Corp. opened the first Kmart store on March 1,1962, in Garden City, Michigan, just four months before the first Walmart opened. This store is still in operation as a Big Kmart store but will be closed in March 2017, eighteen Kmart stores opened that year. Kmart Foods, a chain of Kmart supermarkets, opened in that decade
11.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
12.
Dick's Sporting Goods
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Dicks has 610 stores in 47 states, primarily in the Eastern United States. The company also owns Golf Galaxy, Inc. a golf specialty retailer, the company also operates specialty chains True Runner and Field & Stream. Founded in 1948 by Richard Dick Stack, the chain has expanded to one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the world. In 1948, at the age of 18, Dick Stack worked at an Army/Navy store in his hometown of Binghamton, New York, after World War II. ”When Dick recounted his story later that day, his grandmother advised, “Dick, always follow your dreams, ” and gave him $300 from her savings. He rented a storefront and opened the first Dicks as a small bait & tackle fishing supply store, the store prospered, and Dick eventually opened a second store in Vestal, New York. In the 1970s, the Binghamton store moved next door to a larger facility. Dick Stack headed the organization until his retirement in 1984, Dick Stacks son, Edward Eddie Stack, succeeded him in the leadership of the company, expanding the two-store business rapidly. In the early 1990s, Dicks began chain operations, opening additional stores across Upstate New York, in 1994, Dicks moved its headquarters from Binghamton, New York to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In January 2016, Dicks launched Team Sports HQ, a platform of services for youth sport leagues, services offered include software for online registration and team/league websites, custom uniforms and FanWear, and access to donations and sponsorships. The company used the e-tailing Web site dickssportinggoods. com, operated by GSI Commerce under license, starting in 2013, the company began using a ship-from-store platform for online orders. This means that the company has an inventory for every store. As of March 2009, customers may return items purchased from the Web site, Dicks has also sponsored SportsMatter. com, a crowdfunding site to help support underfunded youth sports leagues. In July 1971, Dicks was told of infringing a patent owned by Furnace Brook, LLC, in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois. On March 31,2005, the company restated the first three quarters of 2004 as well as full-year figures due to adjustments to its accounting for leases. In August 2006, Dicks was accused of infringing two patents owned by Cushion Technologies, LLC, in a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Texas, in April 2007, Dicks settled with the plaintiff and the lawsuit was dismissed. In June 2009, Dicks was accused of infringing a patent owned by The Donkey Company, in 2014, Dicks began a lawsuit against Modells Sporting Goods CEO, Mitchell Modell, for going undercover into their stores to gain access to their retail secrets. Dicks Sporting Goods opened in Florida and California in 1997, seven years later, the chain acquired the entirety of Galyans, an Indiana-based sporting chain. They also acquired Golf Galaxy and Chicks in 2007, plans were announced in 2010 to open its first store in Washington state with six more locations coming soon
