Ewweb Com Sites Ewweb com Files Uploads 2013 10 310ew Sl1
Ewweb Com Sites Ewweb com Files Uploads 2013 10 310ew Sl1
Ewweb Com Sites Ewweb com Files Uploads 2013 10 310ew Sl1
Ewweb Com Sites Ewweb com Files Uploads 2013 10 310ew Sl1
Ewweb Com Sites Ewweb com Files Uploads 2013 10 310ew Sl1

Branching Out: Electrical industry sees a surge of new distributor branch openings

Oct. 8, 2013
While acquisition activity has slowed down so far in 2013, electrical distributors are opening up new locations like crazy.

While distributor acquisition have slowed down a bit,  Electrical Wholesaling’s editors don’t remember ever seeing a surge in branch openings similar to what’s going on right now.

In the past two years, electrical distributors have opened more than 40 new locations in the United States. That number is on the low side because it only counts the branches that EW’s editors were able to confirm through direct contact with the companies or through reports in the general press. Many other distributors have chosen to quietly open branches without publicizing them.

Several of these new locations have opened in areas where the oil and natural gas business is booming. In the Bakken region of North Dakota, over the past two years distributors have opened at least five branches. Consolidated Electrical Distributors Inc. opened branches in Williston and Dickinson, N.D.; QED and Graybar Electric Co. opened locations in Dickinson: and Crescent Electric Supply now has a branch in Sidney, Mont. And in Texas, Summit Electric Supply and Graybar and Elliott Electric Supply have all  opened branches to service the oil and natural gas industries.

Elliott Electric Supply has opened up the most new branches, with 16 new locations since 2011; the chart on this page  lists its 2013 branch openings and several of its 2012  openings. For EW’s complete listing of all branch openings since 2011 check out www.ewweb.com. This database is a work in progress and we will be glad to update this information in print and online as we receive it. Send any new branch information to Jim Lucy at [email protected].