Based in Union and Clifton, respectively, these home-accessories superstores sell everything you’d expect (from shams to soap pumps) and some things you wouldn’t (remote-control cat exerciser, anyone?). Between them they have more than 1,300 stores, 54,000 employees, and combined assets of more than $4 billion. People across the United States and Canada have made these Jersey giants the No. 1 and No. 2 places to shop for housewares.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

The company started in founder John F. Dryden’s basement in 1875, selling burial insurance as the Prudential Friendly Society. Today its headquarters are still on Broad Street in Newark. Prudential Financial has about $616 billion in assets, and not only does its building stand as Newark’s structural icon, the new arena will be called the Prudential Center.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

The company that invented Band-Aids and morphed into a wellness colussus, last year gobbled up a division of Pfizer and its top-selling mouthwash, Listerine. Worldwide sales reached $53.3 billion in 2006, and J&J ranked 36 on the 2007 Fortune 500 list. The company’s headquarters in New Brunswick, built in 1982, attest to its ongoing commitment to the city, where, as far back as 1886, it revolutionized healthcare.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

The Goldman Sachs Tower in Jersey City may as well be a 24-carat ingot. The standard-bearer of investment firms amassed a reported $37.7 billion in revenue in 2006, shelling out bonuses that, if shared among all employees, would come out to $623,418 for each one. Maybe Gov. Jon Corzine, former chairman and CEO, should have postponed his governorship for a year or two.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

Forbes magazine. Forbes on Fox. “Forbes for President.” You know the name, and you probably recognize the face that nowadays goes with it—that of Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Jr. But “Steve” Forbes, 60, the current head of the family, is a piker when it comes to fame and flamboyance. You should have seen his old man.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

For the frail and elderly or the young and ailing, video games can be just what the doctor ordered.

Seen in: Jersey Living

His fingers move effortlessly over the fretboard, his body language as relaxed and soothing as his voice. In his white cowboy hat, Brick resident Jim Murphy, 75, may not look quintessentially Jersey, but he embraces his home state, singing in one of his country-inflected tunes, “Go New Jersey/and you’ll be sure to find/a people great/who give the state a Jersey state of mind.”

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

After years of bringing joy to the needy with his band, Holiday Express, multitalented good-guy Tim McLoone faces a medical crisis at home.

Seen in: Jersey Celebrities, Jersey Living

Her voice has been called wondrous, sensual, and angelic, but never syrupy—one of her nicknames, you may recall, was “Sassy.” Newark’s Sarah Vaughan got her break at eighteen, then for nearly 50 years got better and better as she mastered bebop, jazz, and pop. Vaughan’s plush pipes and perfect control earned her a spot in the vocal pantheon as well as her other nickname, “The Divine One.”

Seen in: Best Of Jersey