The year 2026 marks an exciting new chapter for the award-winning, family-run lighting business. As…
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Gross Electric’s New Direction + Field Trip to Dallas
The year 2026 marks an exciting new chapter for the award-winning, family-run lighting business.
As part of the Gross family’s succession plan, the 115-year-old Gross Electric business officially transitioned into two separate businesses at the beginning of this year. The legacy Gross Electric Supply distributor with three locations – which was under the leadership of third-generation owner Laurie Gross for more than 30 years – is now headed by Laurie’s nephews Drew and Jay, who are the fourth generation of the Gross family to take the reins of the business.
The lighting showroom side – comprised of 63 people and six showrooms in Toledo Ohio, Ann Arbor Michigan, Howell Michigan, Elk Rapids Michigan and two in Indiana that were acquired from Indiana Lighting Center last July – remains under Laurie Gross’ leadership as company president. That residential-oriented business has been rebranded as Gross Lighting & Home (GLH), a name change that affects all of the showrooms.
Noted Laurie Gross in announcing the rebranding, “I’m excited to announce the evolution of our new company Gross Lighting & Home to include our legacy Gross Electric and Lighting Hearth & Home showrooms in Ohio & Michigan.
The goal, according to GLH Marketing Manager Elizabeth Gibson, is for both companies to be able to separately grow their respective segments of the electrical business by intently focusing on their core customer.
A market brainstorm
When Laurie Gross attended January Lightovation with GLH Purchasing and Merchandise manager Michele Ramer, the delineation of the Gross family business had just occurred. It was also the first market that Gross and Ramer attended since the acquisition of the showrooms in Indiana, a new geographic area for the company. Since the Indiana Lighting Center staff remained in place, there were many new employees added to the Gross Lighting & Home fold.
“At Lightovation, Laurie and I were talking about the showroom business and how great it would be for everyone in this whole new company to experience going to a market,” Ramer said. The idea of gathering staff from all of the showrooms to come together and unite with the purpose of seeing the whole process of how product selections are made – from viewing new products in person and determining what would resonate best with their specific customers to weighing perceived value vs price – began to take shape.
The idea of company inclusiveness extended beyond employees on the sales floor to encompass everyone involved with what the showrooms sell — from the warehouse workers who handle shipping and inventory, the delivery drivers, the admin staff and, in the case of the Indiana showrooms which offer installation services, the installers.
“For example, to the warehouse workers, they’re just shipping faceless boxes most of the time. Coming to Dallas would be a way for them to see the products and see what it is that they’re shipping and moving around the showroom,” Gibson stated. The point of the experience was to make the staff feel more fully involved with the business.
Ramer said, “At market Laurie asked vendors, ‘If we brought people to Dallas after market, would you open up for us?’” It turned out 24 manufacturers were willing to do so. From there, Laurie invited everyone in the company to go on a group trip to Dallas Market Center to see, in a small way, what “market” was all about.
Plans were drawn up quickly for a weekend trip that would start with an evening flight to Dallas on Friday, spending an intensive full day at Dallas Market Center all day on Saturday, and then flying back on Sunday morning.
Ramer organized the endeavor, working with the reps and vendors to get their showrooms open plus arranging flights and hotel rooms for 47 people. Gross and Ramer felt it made the most sense to create four groups, segmented by category such as warehouse and office admin; showroom managers; and retail teams who focus on builders and those who deal with consumers and designers. Unfortunately, at the last minute, Gross was unable to attend due to illness, but she joined the group throughout the day via Zoom meetings and calls. Karina Branch created a spreadsheet itemizing the time each team would spend in each showroom, which was shared with the team leaders and the reps/vendors, so they knew which type of staff member they were meeting.
How it all worked
When the showroom teams arrived in Dallas from their respective states – Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana – they received “welcome bags” that featured the company’s new logo and branding, Dallas-themed tissue paper, plus conveniences such as leather notebooks and snacks.
In addition, many reps flew out “and were very generous with their time,” Gibson noted.
The manufacturer tours started on Saturday morning at 7am with breakfast at Minka, lunch at Quoizel and ended at 5pm with a group dinner hosted by Kichler. Before the group left for the airport on Sunday morning, Quorum provided a farewell breakfast.
Each group had set time frames to rotate among all 24 manufacturer showrooms, and the time allotted with each depended on their business focus.
“For example, salespeople who deal with the architectural community had more time with a company like WAC to go over products relevant to that customer, and those who work with builders had more time with Kichler and Progress,” Gibson explained.
Having the warehouse, delivery, and installers present led to some great questions and discussions with manufacturers from a perspective unique to their job. “Everybody was able to get into their own lane,” Gibson said.
Since orders were recently placed at Lightovation, Ramer made up sheets ahead of time that showed the employees which products were ordered from each manufacturer. “Laurie wanted the teams to have a preview of the products before they arrived in their stores,” Ramer stated.
That excitement of seeing products for the first time in-person at a show is something that was important for Gross to convey. “Laurie wanted to everyone to get excited about lighting and have a good time on this trip. She has said that going to Dallas market had a huge impact on her when she first took over the company’s showrooms,” Ramer said.
Ramer, Gibson and Branch noted that manufacturers did an outstanding job of hosting the group, offering refreshments, catered food, and branded mementos.
“Everyone was made to feel important by the manufacturers, and everybody from the different Gross Lighting & Home showrooms got to know each other better,” Gibson said, adding, “There was a time years ago when everybody in the company knew everyone else, but now that we’re growing, this was a great way to make and renew those connections.”
Upon the group’s return, Gross asked the groups to provide feedback on each line, including their personal assessment of product value and pricing.
“She also asked if there were additional questions from any of us about a product or topic from a company and that she would follow up with the vendor to get those questions answered,” Gibson commented.
“Laurie knew the value of bringing the team together now that we are a new company,” Ramer explained. “She is concerned about maintaining a ‘small business feel’ even though the company is growing.”
Regarding the success of the Dallas trip, Gibson emphasized the importance of giving staff this type of hands-on experience. “I think of how pivotal it was when I came into the industry,” she remarked. “If you can offer your staff an immersive experience like this, I feel it’s huge opportunity for new people to learn about the business and the industry.”
Added Ramer, “Having the trip when Lightovation wasn’t going on made the team feel special. It was great to be there without the market chaos. Plus, we had more time with vendors.”
Gibson concluded, “We live in a world where there is so much competition as to where people can buy lighting. One of the biggest differentiators that Gross Lighting & Home has is our expertise. We have lighting experts.”
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