WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Electrical wholesale distributor City Electric Supply (CES) recently opened a new branch in Florida — CES Palm Beach Airport. The journey of finding a home for the new branch began two years ago.
“My boss and I were driving around to search for a location. We went and looked at this building and knew immediately that it was going to be a perfect fit for what we needed,” said District Manager Al Fusco.
Even though it seemed like it would be perfect to begin with, getting the branch open still came with its challenges. The structure of the building was in a great location, but CES still wanted to do a complete demolition and renovation of the inside to better fit the requirements of the business and the needs of customers.
“We worked hand-in-hand with the building department to draw plans for the new space and make sure everything was in order,” said Al. “There was a half kitchen and offices through the front of the building we needed to fix. We got our showroom built out with manager offices.”
The Palm Beach Airport location will service customers by shortening drive times and sits in a prime spot for existing customers. This branch is less than four miles away from CES West Palm Beach, but average traffic times will increase the drive in one direction by more than 30 minutes. If a customer works on Palm Beach Island, drive times can be at least one hour. This location will help alleviate that for customers.
This branch will be operated by Michael Carter, a former CES customer and an electrician with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. Carter has known the faces of CES for over 25 years. When he finally decided he wanted a change of pace, the adventure of opening this CES location came at the perfect time.
“Everyone that I did business with at CES was always trying to get me to come work on this side of the business,” said Carter. “When I decided it was time to make the switch, I took the chance on it and decided to give Al a call.”
Carter has now worked at five CES locations while opening the Palm Beach Airport location.
“It was a great experience for me to see how branch managers and operations managers did things at their locations and what worked well for their customers,” said Carter. “I was able to gather ideas, meet their customers, and learn so much.”
CES Palm Beach Airport is officially open, and the team is excited to meet new customers.
“Opening this location has been a great change of pace for me, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish here,” said Carter.
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