October 28, 2022
5 Things to Know: Week Ending October 29
Lighting agent gets evicted and owes over $268K. Plus, three distributor acquisitions just happened.
Here's a roundup of some of the week's happenings curated to help lighting people stay informed.
1. New York City lighting agent evicted from its office
New York City lighting agent, The Lighting Group, has been evicted from its Manhattan offices. According to court documents, the agency began defaulting on its monthly rent of $17,895 beginning in November 2020. Earlier this month, a New York judge ruled that the landlord, JJC 19 West 36th Street, could take back possession of the sixth floor office space and was owed $268,120 plus interest and attorney’s fees.
We reached out to The Lighting Group and received the following response from Principal, David Brumm: "As you know Covid was very challenging for the smaller reps, and TLG was no exception. The number of reps that have consolidated/merged or been outright acquired is unprecedented. We lost some lines and a number of people, but have been able to hold on, while maintaining and supporting our existing lines. As of now we are working remotely, hopefully as things improve, we will get back to some semblance of 'normal'."
2. Northeast U.S. electrical distributor acquisitions
In three separate and unrelated acquisitions, some independent electrical supply houses or chains have announced acquisitions in recent days:
-
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Sonepar Agrees to Acquire Rockingham Electrical
-
VERMONT / UPSTATE NEW YORK: Green Mountain Electric Supply Acquires Falcone Electric
-
NEW JERSEY: Warshauer Acquires Broadway Electric Supply
3. A twist in the Signify vs. Menards lawsuit
In August, global lighting leader Signify filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin-based home improvement retailer, Menards, alleging that private label downlights and disc lights sold at Menards violate six Signify patents.
Yesterday, Menards pulled fourteen of its vendors into the lawsuit stating, in part, that “Menards denies any liability to Signify, but asserts that, if held liable, Menards is entitled to indemnification by the third-party defendants.” The companies added to the lawsuit by Menards are:
- Best Lighting Products Inc.
- Luminex International Company, Ltd.
- Richpower Industries, Inc.
- East West Commerce Co., Inc.
- AFX, Inc.
- Alert Reel Manufacturing, LLC
- American Lighting, Inc.
- K Live d/b/a Bulb Star
- CL Corporation
- Pinegreen Lighting
- Good Earth Lighting, Inc.
- GT Industrial Products, L.L.C.
- Soaring Technology Co., LTD
- Zone Industry Corporation
4. Shipping Costs to Increase. Again.
UPS and FedEx are in the midst of implementing a rate increase. Rates for UPS’ Ground, Air and International services will increase by an average of 6.9% effective Dec. 27.
5. California ports now unclogged
The queue of ships waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell from a peak of 109 ships in January to four vessels this week, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. Shipping specialists say fewer ships than normal are heading to the main U.S. gateway complex for imports from Asia in coming days and that cargo volumes that had long swamped the ports now are receding.
Southern California’s Notorious Container Ship Backup Ends (Wall Street Journal paywall)
6. Bonus Halloween Content
Follow inside.lighting on Instagram for news, info and occassional lunacy.
