Apricot Lane Fashion Boutique

This is the first Arizona location for Apricot Lane, which is a national franchise with stores in nearly 20 other states. The boutique carries trendy, name-brand clothing, jewelry, handbags, shoes and some home decor and gift items.

After sifting through thousands of names, company executives settled on a new name: Apricot Lane. "It was a tough decision for us, because we were pretty attached to the Country Clutter name," says Petersen. "It was an important move for us."

Country Clutter, a franchise business operated by Country Visions of Vacaville, California, is ranked #1 in Gifts & Flowers this year. Country Clutter received the #1 rating for three years in the category formerly known as Retail Gifts.

"In terms of a business format, franchising is the best guarantee of success," says Chalwood, president and COO of The Uniglobe Group, an international travel retailer. "You're in business for yourself -but not by yourself. But the bottom line is that for franchisors to be successful, franchisees have to be successful."