Businessweek

ey sell a line of household appliances, electronics, computers and other home furnishings. NFM, R.C. Willey, Star and Jordan’s also offer customer financing to complement their retail operations. R.C. Willey, based in Salt Lake City, is the major home furnishings retailer in the Intermountain West region of the United States. R.C. Willey operates eleven retail stores, two retail clearance facilities and three distribution centers. These facilities include approximately 1.5 million square feet of retail space with eight stores located in Utah, one store in Idaho, three stores in Nevada and one store in California. In June 2006, R.C. Willey opened a store in Rocklin, California to serve the Sacramento, California market. R.C. Willey also opened a new distribution center during 2006 in Roseville, California to serve the northern California and Reno, Nevada markets. Star’s retail facilities include approximately 700,000 square feet of retail space in eleven locations. Star’s retail facilities are located in Texas with eight in Houston. Jordan’s operates a furniture retail business from four locations with approximately 520,000 square feet of retail space in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Berkshire owns an interest (93%) in Borsheim Jewelry Company, Inc. (Borsheim’s). Borsheim is a retailer of fine jewelry, watches, crystal, china, stemware, flatware, gifts and collectibles. Berkshire owns Helzberg’s Diamond Shops, Inc. (Helzberg’s), which operates a chain of 269 retail jewelry stores in 38 states. Most of Helzberg’s stores are located in malls or power strip centers, and stores operate under the name Helzberg Diamonds. Berkshire owns The Ben Bridge Corporation (Ben Bridge Jeweler), which operates a chain of 77 upscale retail jewelry stores in 12 states, primarily in the Western United States. Ben Bridge Jeweler stores are located primarily in major shopping malls. Also included in Berkshire’s group of retailing businesses is See’s Candies (See’s), which produces boxed chocolates and other confectionery products. Finance and Financial Products Berkshire’s finance and financial products businesses engage in various finance related activities. BH Finance invests in fixed-income financial instruments. Berkshire owns Clayton Homes, Inc. (Clayton), a vertically integrated manufactured housing company. As of December 31, 2006, Clayton operated 41 manufacturing plants in 14 states. Clayton’s homes are marketed in 48 states through a network of 1,691 retailers, including 447 company-owned sales centers. Clayton also develops, owns and manages 70 manufactured housing communities located in 12 states and operates 14 housing subdivisions in 3 states. Berkshire owns XTRA in 2001. XTRA is a transportation equipment lessor operating under the XTRA Lease brand name. XTRA manages a fleet of approximately 126,000 units located at 75 facilities throughout the United States and 5 facilities in Canada. The fleet includes over-the-road and storage trailers, chassis, temperature controlled vans, flatbeds, and intermodal trailers. XTRA also operates as a lessor of over-the-road trailers in North America. CORT Business Services Corporation is acquired by an 80.1% owned subsidiary of Berkshire and is the national provider of rental furniture, accessories and related services in the rent-to-rent segment of the furniture rental industry. History Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. was founded in 1889.