Page 47 - Lighting Magazine December 2019

“Amazon started in a garage; we started in a tent.”
tough after what he had recently been through, but his good friend Ramiro Carpio believed in his vision and lent Marash the money to get started. “He had faith in me. He lent me his entire life sav- ings to make this work,” he remarks.
The first warehouse in 2013 was literally a tent in Carpio’s backyard. “Hey, Amazon started in a garage; we started in a tent,” he jokes.
“I went all-in on this upgraded product idea. I think what really sold the line [to showrooms] was giving the end-customer choices; the only invest- ment for the showroom was the point-of-purchase display. They didn’t have to carry inventory, so there was no risk. Orders are shipped on the same day they are received, plus we give a 2.2 IMAP to protect the distributors.”
Innovations Lighting started out small, locally at first until those dealers were selling through regularly. Then it was time to expand. “We went from one tent to two, then three, and eventually a 900-sq.-ft. warehouse in Peekskill, New York.
“Five years later we’re in a 45,000-sq.-ft. office and warehouse and have grown from two employ- ees to 26. I’m running this business with absolutely no debt.”
In order to grow the business, Marash knew he had to bring the line to Dallas Market. He leased a booth in the Temporaries section in order to gather retailers’ feedback. “I told them I was here to experiment [to see if the line had national ap- peal]. People came and loved it,” he says.
It wasn’t just retailers who noticed Marash’s booth. One of those people who stopped by was Malcolm Tripp, President of American Lighting Brands, the domestic manufacturer headquar- tered in Chicago with brands such as Framburg, Arroyo Craftsman, House of Troy, Scatchard Stoneware, and Thumprints. “Malcolm asked me, ‘What are you doing here in the Temporaries? You belong on the lighting floors.’ He put his hand out to me and welcomed me to exhibit in a portion of his showroom in the Trade Mart.”
When Innovations first began, boxes were housed in an outdoor tent in a neighborhood backyard. Now there are two brick-and- mortar warehouses
in New York — one in Buchanan and the other in Peekskill.
DeceMber 2019 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 43