Page 38 - Lighting Magazine October 2018

Mary Jo Martin asks interior designers and lighting showrooms to speak frankly about the positive aspects of the lighting showroom and interior designer partnership, along with advice on how to create be er synergy between them.
34 enLIGHTenment Magazine | OctOber 2018
www.enlightenmentmag.com
DAVID BELLWOAR
Colonial Electric/Bright Light Design Centers, SNew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
pending time with David Bellwoar leaves you
refreshed, motivated, and ready to conquer the world — so it’s no wonder that his Bright Light show- rooms are a popular destination for both the design community and consumers.
Bright Light is part of Colonial Electric Supply Co., which has 100+ years of roots in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Bellwoar – along with his three brothers – acquired Colonial Electric from their father, Joe, in the mid-1990s. When they formed a Showroom division in 1999, David decided to take on the challenge of running the new business. Un- der his leadership, the division has become widely respected for its strength as a business partner and
for the sta ’s passion for excellent customer service. There was quite a learning curve, however. Operat- ing a retail-type of environment for consumers and designers was nothing like traditional distribution for electrical contractors.
“Looking back, we really weren’t prepared for what we were trying to start,” Bellwoar recalls. “Nearly every aspect of this business model was new to us. We were used to having a large established customer base of electrical contractors and didn’t have to do much marketing. And most of them had approved lines of credit with us, which was managed by our credit department. Doing business with retail customers – and what’s important to them – was completely di erent. Even the so ware we used to run Colonial Electric didn’t t the showroom busi- ness, so we ended up writing our own.
How to Strengthen the
DESIGNER
Relationship
-
SHOWROOM