Ethan Allen, Dollar General Feel Just Right

You know, when I was a kid I hated looking for furniture with my parents. I promised myself that when I grew up I'd never march my kid through stores for hours on end looking for "just the right lamp," as Mom always said.

But in the last few months I've started schlepping my daughter down to the very store where my parents dragged me 20 years earlier. That store? A branch of the 70-year-old furniture seller Ethan Allen (ETH Quote).

My point is that in spite of all the doom and gloom in the market, some companies continue to fire on all cylinders. Today I'm thinking about two very different retailers -- Ethan Allen and Dollar General (DG Quote). ...