It is pretty amazing to find out what kind of companies are in your neighborhood when you play on the internet. Last night I came upon this site called www.chilliheads.com and they make all kinds of cool fleece hats and accessories and although they are in town and I have not heard of them before.
What neat companies are in your town and you were surprised when you found out?
Cheers,
Herbert
The home of all 3 branches of the US Federal Government are withing a mile and a half from my house, does that count 
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Funny thread but should be interesting.
I am extremely lucky to have in my town (Waterbury, VT):
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (I can smell it when they roast)
Ben and Jerry’s factory
The Alchemist (best pub and brewery anywhere)
All the best nordic and alpine skiing in Vermont is nearby (Stowe, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen)
Under Armour, Dewalt, Nati. Boh. beer … 
(Baltimore hun!)
Nothing too exciting in Central Missouri but this guys shop is about a mile away from my house, just across the lake. He has (I think) 4 of of these boats, even a turbine powered cat’ that should top 210mph and sounds like a hairdryer opposed to the rumble of a Harly. http://www.nautiboats.com/home.html
Schwinn
Saris
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Victoria’s Secret and soon to be La Senza. Columbus will be the lingerie capital of the world!
"I am extremely lucky to have in my town (Waterbury, VT)… "
i live in a cool place and wouldn’t move but… that sounds pretty damned inviting. but the ben & jerry’s thing, that could be dangerous for me. and the pub.
and we have Darn Tough Socks and Burton right next door don’t forget! (and had Tubbs until last year)
The one and only Jiffy Mix plant in the world and Jeff Daniels home town theater THE PURPLE ROSE! Chelsea Michigan
sport-related, off the top of my head . . .
Nike
Adidas
Chris King
In Sport
Columbia Sportswear
probably forgetting some; rainy, but nice place to live
brother bonk
is just up the road from my place and even closer to where my parents live. His concept cars can been seen in most car shows and his factory is pretty damn tiny when you see it.
My fav…
Elite Bicycles
Tastycake
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Colorado Springs is full of ‘cool’ companies and I’m sure I’m missing some: USOC, USA Triathlon, USA Cycling, USA Swimming, Rock Shox (SRAM), Colorado Cyclist, Carmichael Training Systems, a couple of local prew pubs and coffee houses, too.
Not sure if it is cool but I’m in Ada MI and we have Amway here.
I’ve got the boys at Zipp about 10 mins. from my store. I think this is the home of Steak and Shake too. That’s cool.
Geez, I forgot the most obvious one: I’m also just down the road from the “biggest spectacle in racing”. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mrs. T’s Pierogies is about 20 min away…Hershey is about an hour away… They used to make Boboli pizza shells in my town, but I am not sure that they are still in business…
There are actually several interesting companies, but this one is sort of cool.
For those of you old enough to remember the Apollo program (the guys who went to the moon), when they’d come back the “module” would land in the ocean and they’d get picked up in a net like this:
It was made by a guy named Billy Pugh here. He was a client of mine until he sold his company and now it’s owned by a friend of mine and is a manufacturer of safety equipment used worldwide by governments and private companies.
for all the aging multisport folks who need joint replacement assistance down the road, Kalamazoo is the home of your one stop shopping source…Stryker.
we used to have some very cool outfits around here including Checker (cabs), Shakespeare (fishing stuff), Gibson (stringed instruments), Roamer (cars), and more paper outfits than you could imagine.
Hudson Historics is a vintage/historic race car restoration shop that is about 2 miles from my house. I worked there for 6 years over the summer. It’s this little unassuming warehouse near the train tracks, but inside you have things like this (all of which I’ve worked on):
And this:
And this:
And this:
