Business View Magazine - October 2016 171
U.S., in earnest. “Every region of the country had re-
gional chains – the Pergaments, Rickel, Channel, Two
Guys,” says Angelo. “Our customers used to tell us that
we were the company that was in the most chains, na-
tionally, because we had this line of lamp parts and
lamp repair and we were the lead player in that niche.
It was a go-go period for pretty much anybody supply-
ing a hardware/home center, because you had these
regional chains that were very healthy at the time.”
When major national chains, such as Home Depot
and Lowes began to consolidate in the ‘70s, the com-
pany experienced another period of high growth. “We
opened distribution centers around the country,” Ange-
lo continues. “We couldn’t keep up with our customers
and we were the go-to player in the market for those
product lines. Meanwhile, all along, we were still sell-
ing to electrical distributors and lighting showrooms.
So, we were still in all the channels.”
The third stage of the company’s growth, according to
Angelo, came about in the late 1990s, when the com-
pany decided to assume its new name. “Our company
always had a good reputation, but never had a real
brand name; we had a trade name as Angelo, but not a
consumer name,” he says. The original Westinghouse
Electric Corporation, from which the Angelo Brothers
derived its new moniker, was a major American manu-
facturing company and pioneer in the field of power
generation and transmission, as well as the design
and manufacturing of household electrical products
including radios, televisions, and electric appliances
of all kinds.
In the 1990s Westinghouse Electric sold off many of
its operations. “They sold their lighting division, lock,
stock, and barrel to Philips, the number-one lamp
maker in the world (in the industry, we call ‘light bulbs,’
‘lamps’), who wanted to establish a presence in the
U.S. market,” Angelo explains. “So, they purchased
