Granite City Electric Supply, Quincy, Mass., purchased the assets of Major Electric, Pawtucket, R.I., in a move to enhance its position in the New England market. From its founding in 1946, Major Electric built a strong brand in the industrial, contractor and institutional electrical and retail lighting markets of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Major adds three locations — Groton and Norwich, Conn., in addition to the Pawtucket headquarters, which includes a lighting showroom — to bring Granite City's total to 28 throughout New England.
In a Granite City press release announcing the deal, Major Electric's Alan Leven said he is “looking forward to having our team combine with the Granite City team to help grow our business throughout the six New England states.”
Leven believes the “transaction creates future opportunities for our people and theirs to grow personally and professionally in their efforts to serve all customers.”
Leven, grandson of Major Electric founder Harry Leven, has arranged to remain with the company for several years in a senior management role.
Granite City Electric Supply, founded in 1923, ranked #93 on Electrical Wholesaling's Top 200 list, based on 2011 annual sales. The company has an interesting history as a state certified woman-owned business enterprise, which it has been for 40 years, since founder Nicholas Papani left Granite City and its sister firm, Columbia Electric Supply, Brockton, Mass., to his daughters Phyllis Papani Godwin and Dorothy Palmer. The two firms, which separately grew large enough to be major players in their respective markets and to secure spots on the Top 200 list, merged in 2010. Granite City is also the “official distributor of electrical supplies” to the Boston Red Sox.