Sunflower Farmers Market, a rapidly growing value-priced organic and natural foods grocer in six Southwestern states, is set to open its first store in California in April 2011. While the concept is new to California, Mike Gilliland, the man behind the brand, is well known there. He established the popular Wild Oats supermarket in the…

U-PAK-IT Corp., the third largest Louisiana-based c-store chain, features a unique business model that helps mom-and-pop stores unite to compete in an industry that often eats single stores for breakfast. The first U-PAK-IT store was opened in Winnsboro, La., in 1986. The company quickly grew when a number of neighborhood stores, faced with rising prices…