Blockbuster Merger in New England: Granite City Electric Supply Merges with Columbia Electric Supply Co.
Granite City Electric Supply Co., Quincy Mass., has merged with Columbia Electric Supply Co., Brockton, Mass. Going forward the company will operate under the name of Granite City Electric Supply Co.
Steven Helle President and COO of Granite City Electric will continue in that capacity and Geoffrey Murphy, Columbia Electric's President, will become a regional V.P. for Granite City Electric. The two companies have often been referred to as sister companies --with good reason. Phyllis Papani Godwin, Granite City's owner and CEO, and Dorothy Palmer, Columbia Electric Supply's owner are in fact sisters. They are the daughters of Nicholas Papani who founded both electrical supply companies nearly ninety years ago.
“We are delighted to have Columbia Electric as part of the Granite City family, “ said Phyllis Papani Godwin, Granite City's owner and CEO. “Both companies share a culture of caring for customers and employees and a strategic focus on long term growth.”
In 2009 Granite City Electric was 75th in the nation according to Electrical Wholesaling's “Top 200” ranking of electrical distributors. Columbia Electric Supply was ranked 190th.
“Adding Columbia's locations to Granite City's 21 locations will expand our market presence and enhance our position as the largest independent electrical distributor in New England.,” said Steve Helle.
About the Author
Jim Lucy Blog
Chief Editor
Jim Lucy has been wandering through the electrical market for more than 30 years, most of the time as an editor for Electrical Wholesaling, Electrical Marketing newsletter and CEE News. During that time he and the editorial team for the publications have won numerous national awards for their coverage of the electrical business. He showed an early interest in electricity, when as a youth he had an idea for a hot dog cooker. Unfortunately, the first crude prototype malfunctioned and the arc nearly blew him out of his parents' basement. Before becoming an editor for Electrical Wholesaling magazine and Electrical Marketing, he earned a BA degree in journalism and a MA in communications from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, NJ., which is formerly best known as the site of the 1967 summit meeting between President Lyndon Johnson and Russian Premier Aleksei Nikolayevich Kosygin, and now best known as the New Jersey state college that changed its name in 1992 to Rowan University because of a generous $100 million donation by N.J. zillionaire industrialist Henry Rowan. Jim is a Brooklyn-born Jersey Guy happily transplanted in the fertile plains of Kansas for the past 20 years.