The Right Partner
Echo Lighting Gallery has built a business on strong partnerships.
When Brad Huisman got started in the lighting business nearly 20 years ago, he was fortunate to have the backing of the right partner to support his efforts. Although he was working solo, he was part of a larger group of companies. That solid relationship gave him the freedom to grow his business.
About a year ago, the situation could have changed dramatically. But Huisman’s history of building relationships laid the foundation for a new partnership and new opportunities ahead.
“When I got started, having the support of the Brunia family and the Electric Wholesale name allowed me to make connections with builders and developers that I couldn’t have made as easily on my own,” he says.
Electric Wholesale was based in Ames. Huisman originally focused his lighting sales efforts there as well, working out of an office at the Electric Wholesale showroom. “We’ve always had a unique business model,” he explains. “At the time, there were something like 14 retail lighting stores in the Des Moines area, and that market seemed pretty saturated.”
Instead, Huisman took a direct approach, marketing to the builders themselves. When the growth in Ames slowed down, Huisman knew that if he was going to survive, he would have to expand his reach.
“I started making contacts in Ankeny and Des Moines with some of the bigger builders and developers, getting involved with the Greater Des Moines Home Builders Association, basically working out of my car the whole time. Once I built those relationships, the builders were sending their designers or project coordinators up to our wholesale showroom in Ames to make selections,” he says.
Before long, he had an office, a few fixtures on display, and a rapidly growing client base. “We’ve thought about retail because the market has changed,” Huisman says. “But that’s never been how we approached our business.”
A retail location would require different staffing, warehousing, and marketing. To Huisman, it would mean a complete departure from the type of relationships he’s developed over the years. So when he and his wife, Erin, opened EW Lighting Gallery in Ankeny, it wasn’t the retail lighting store it may have appeared from the street.
Once again, his partnership with the Brunia family was key to the company’s growth.
Huisman says, “They weren’t interested in trying a retail lighting showroom either. But with the popularity of internet shopping and home improvement television, homeowners were becoming more demanding about the styles and products they wanted. We needed to be able to walk our clients through that selection process.”
EW Lighting Gallery provided that setting. It also offered a more central location for Huisman and his team to serve the fastest growing communities in the state.
The company has since expanded its services, providing site walk-through to help clients plan every step of the lighting and the necessary electrical well in advance. And EW Lighting Gallery’s in-house designers work alongside the clients’ design teams to select everything from light fixtures to ceiling fans and mirrors.
“We still aren’t open to the public in a typical retail form. For us, service comes first. To do that right, we cater to the builders and their customers directly,” Huisman says. “Our relationship with homeowners starts with the builder or designer. That way our team can set up an individual appointment with the homeowners and their design partners to really customize their selections.”
When the Brunia family decided to sell its Electric Wholesale company, Huisman wasn’t sure what that would mean for his corner of the business. Fortunately, his years of expertise and years of developing the right relationships served as the only introduction he needed for the company’s new partnership.
“Echo Group out of Council Bluffs purchased Electric Wholesale last November,” says Huisman. “But none of the companies in the Echo Group works directly with lighting, so they were intrigued by our business model.”
Not only did Echo Group welcome the Huismans and their team on board, but the company hopes to expand Huisman’s approach into more markets where Echo Group already has a presence.
Huisman’s Ankeny location is now Echo Lighting Gallery.
“They have been so great. They just want us to keep doing what we do. When the time is right, they hope to add more Lighting Gallery locations and have me help with that growth where I can,” says Huisman.
“We’ve been doing this a long time now,” says Erin. “The builders and designers we’ve worked with have come to trust that experience. When a new client comes in, we can say, ‘Trust us. This is what we do.’”
The Huismans’ business partners have recognized that, too.