Page 51 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - February 2017

retail sPotlight

oPPositE PagE lEft:
with Kelly’s Dine es, a partnership that has ex- production manager for Illuminating Experiences’ Second-generation
panded the customer base for both businesses. factory. Joseph followed in his father’s footsteps,
lighting veteran Joseph
The Freehold showroom gives Central New Jersey working part-time around his school schedule for Violante is the General
residents a more convenient location than driving those same companies. By age 18, Joseph knew Manager for all three

more than one hour north to the original store.
that there was no other business he wanted to be Lighting Expo stores in
Through the years, Steve and Karen Heyn held in besides lighting.
New Jersey.

true to their company’s core principle of o ering Working his way up through the ranks of a few bottom: Just inside the

a wide selection of product at a fair price without New Jersey lighting showrooms doing everything foyer of the showroom
the in ated pricing and fake discounts they had from hanging xtures, arranging displays plus is this tradtional crystal
display.
noticed retailers in other industries do. Before “cleaning toilets and shoveling snow,” Violante
staying home to care for their children, Karen jokes, he is most happy selling product and man-

was a computer programmer by trade. She began aging the sales oor. As General Manager for all bElow: The exterior of
the Wayne store features
working part-time at the Wayne lighting showroom three stores, Violante breaks up his week with time
when the children were in school and has become spent with the sta at each showroom.
custom-made window
panels featuring speci c
a full partner in the business as well as serves as What he has learned from the Heyns is how to manufacturers instead of
the chief buyer for each of the stores.
engage with customers while teaching them about the more typical vigne es

While o ering lighting and accessories from lighting. “Learning allows you to upsell,” Violante and displays.

more than 200 manufacturers has established explains about his passion for taking educational
the company as a go-to source among interior classes to brush up on new techniques and com-

designers, architects, and homeowners alike, it is ponents. There are so many di erent facets to
the helpfulness and expertise of the sales sta that lighting and all of these li le parts and elements

Steve and Karen Heyn believe sets their stores

apart.
One of those employees is Joseph Violante,
“Learning allows you to upsell.”
who – at 38 years old – has had lighting in his blood
from a young age. Violante’s father used to do metal

casting and polishing for American Brass & Crystal

in New Jersey as well as for Sti el and served as

february 2017 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 49