Vitamin World was founded in 1977 by Arthur Rudolph and is headquartered in Great River, New York. Vitamin World was a subsidiary of NBTY Inc. NBTY manufactured and sold products under the "Vitamin World" label and currently does so under the "Holland and Barrett" and "Puritan's Pride" labels. Under NBTY, Vitamin World had retail stores in North America, Holland and Barrett currently has retail stores in the United Kingdom, and Puritan's Pride is an online / catalog phone ordering division. The companies sell similar products, but each caters to different customers.