May 1, 2025
Smart Acquisition: Bell & McCoy Moves Into Atlanta
Georgia brings vital lighting presence to Bell & McCoy’s Southern expansion strategy
Until now, Atlanta was the largest missing market in Bell & McCoy’s steadily expanding lighting footprint across the South. That changes today.
Texas-based Bell & McCoy has acquired Smart Lighting Solutions, the Georgia lighting agency founded in 2014 by Geoff Marlow, marking a significant step in the company’s regional growth. The business, now operating as Bell & McCoy Lighting and Controls of Georgia, brings over 25 employees into the fold and establishes dedicated offices in Duluth and Forsyth.
This move also marks the first time either Bell & McCoy or FRM — which merged in 2023 and exceeds $2 billion in sales — has had a lighting agency presence in the state of Georgia. The combined entity now operates from the Carolinas to Florida to Arizona, representing many of the same manufacturers across multiple markets. In some cases, notably Current, the pattern of regional alignment has grown increasingly consistent — though not universal. Arizona and Florida, for instance, remain among the outliers where Bell & McCoy does not exclusively carry the Current lighting portfolio.
Strategic Alignment Across the South
Over the past 24 months, Bell & McCoy and FRM have increased their alignment with Current across numerous territories, creating a kind of soft continuity. Lutron, known for hedging its agency bets more carefully, has also appeared in multiple FRM and Bell & McCoy territories, though its alignment is often more selective.
With the acquisition of Smart Lighting Solutions, that pattern is now extending to Georgia — but no official manufacturer announcements have occured yet. The implication, though, is hard to ignore. From Texas to the Carolinas, Bell & McCoy and FRM are beginning to offer manufacturers something approaching seamless regional access.
Still, Georgia felt like unfinished business. Despite FRM being headquartered in Atlanta and maintaining a well-established presence on the electrical side of the business in the state — neither FRM nor Bell & McCoy had previously cracked the local lighting market in a significant way. Now, they have.
A Shift in Name, and in Structure
Smart Lighting Solutions was launched in the aftermath of Acuity Brands’ 2014 split with longtime rep Lighting Associates. Marlow, a former Acuity executive, led the formation of Smart as a new player in the Georgia agency landscape — backed in part by Acuity itself. In 2022, Acuity reversed course, parting ways with Smart and returning to Lighting Associates.
For the past two and a half years, Smart had been aligned with both Current and Lutron, representing a strong line card in the Georgia market. In a press release announcing the acquisition, Bell & McCoy confirmed that Marlow will assist with the transition, though his remarks referred to Bell & McCoy as “they,” not “we” — a phrasing that may hint at a shorter-term transition role going forward.
One More Market, One More Step
Today’s deal adds Georgia to a list of targeted acquisitions that, over the past three years, has strengthened Bell & McCoy's lighting presence across a multistate platform serving major lighting and controls manufacturers. While not all deals have been high-profile, the scale and recent pace have been hard to ignore:
In terms of size, this Georgia addition may be Bell & McCoy’s largest single-lighting-market outside of its home base in Texas. It’s also one of the few instances where Bell & McCoy is acquiring a formidable agency with a significant market share, a well-developed team and significant operational depth. Several past acquisitions involved smaller teams, smaller markets, independent reps or partial territory consolidations.
No Surprise, But Still Significant
The acquisition doesn’t come as a shock to those paying attention, but it does mark a turning point. For Bell & McCoy Lighting and Controls, Atlanta was the final major holdout in a region where their influence has steadily grown — less a missing piece than an unavoidable one.
With Smart Lighting Solutions now under the Bell & McCoy banner, the agency isn’t just adding an Atlanta office. It’s gaining presence in a city that often sets the tone for the Southeast.
In the end, the move felt less like a surprise than a long-awaited stop on a well-established route — a kind of Midnight Train to Georgia for an agency that had already laid track across much of the South.
