Page 69 - Enlightenment Magazine - July 2013

Retail Profile

When Davids dad died unexpectedly at age 69, he
stepped up to fll his fathers shoes at the company.
Then Steves father died in January 1991 at the early
age of 56. At that time, Steve and his wife were run-
ning their own public relations frm and publishing
a media directory they created from scratch. My
grandfather (I.R.) asked me at the funeral to join
the business and I started working here that April,
he relates. The decision was not easy and for a long
time aferward Steve was working double shifs,
spliting his hours between the store and running
the p.r./publishing frm. Steve and David are 50/50
partners in Atlantic Electrical Supply today.
The guys [builders] I deal with are my
Family mentors
Helping the younger cousins through the transition friends. We feel in our hearts that we
into hands-on ownership was another set of cous-
ins (Alfred and Alvin Lehman) whose respective bring something valuable to them.
fathers were share-holding partners with I.R. Le-
vet in establishing and running the business. Both Alfred Lehman
octogenarians, Alvin Lehman serves as manager/
Lighting Fixtures and Alfred Lehman is the outside
sales manager. They both grew up in the company
and remain actively involved today.
For example, when Atlantic Electrical Supply
moved to its current location 38 years ago to make
room for a new highway, Alvin suggested the show-
room be positioned diagonally on the plot of land.
I wanted the windows to face in a direction where
the sun would never shine directly in, generating
glare and excess heat, he explains. He also speci-
fed the showroom to be constructed as a series of
small rooms featuring categories such as outdoor,
living room, formal/crystal, and sconces.
This way, I can build more of a rapport with the
customer when we can sit down one-on-one at the
table in each of these small rooms and focus on
their plans without having them be distracted by
another fxture in a diferent category across the
showroom for example, an outdoor fxture when anytime soon. I enjoy this business, Alfred says. top: Working landscape
were discussing crystal chandeliers or by another The guys [builders] I deal with are my friends. We lighting is grouped by
salesperson helping a customer with their renova- feel in our hearts that we bring something valuable manufacturer and labeled
via decorative metal
tion plans. I think the room by room approach is to them. I think one of the reasons weve been plaques.
more cohesive for doing whole-house plans, he successful in recent years [during a recession] is
states. Each room is spaciously appointed. We because of our policies. We don t have any greed middle: The showroom
don t have vignetes or ceiling clouds. We try to in our pricing, he remarks. We also bring the best is deliberately designed
without ceiling clouds or
keep each room clean and unclutered, Alvin value to our customers with our expertise. I think vignetes.
notes. His life-long experience with lighting and his of myself as a far beter promoter of lighting [than
commitment to keeping abreast of the trends and our competitors]. Once we have someone as a cus-
technology have given him a faithful following of tomer, they tend to stay with us.
customers that spans generations. The industry has changed a lot in a very short
Like Alvin, Alfred has no intention of retiring period of time, but that doesn t afect the Lehmans

July 2013 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 67