CES Davie, FL: Big-Time Service in an Even Bigger Market
[Davie, Florida] — What was once carved out of the Florida Everglades, Davie has since grown and expanded to become a very popular suburb within the booming Fort Lauderdale metro area. That’s great news for Branch Manager Gilbert Avila, who just opened CES Davie, the second branch he has managed since joining City Electric Supply almost six years ago.
“I came from a different branch nearby, in Medley, Florida,” Avila said. “It’s a challenge to open a new branch, but it’s exciting. Even though I focused mainly on the industrial side before, we’re now in a busy market that services everything — high-end residential, a ton of HVAC, marinas — you name it, we got it.”
And with Avila’s industrial background coming from the CES IBM branch, how does this location compare to his previous one?
“You couldn’t ask for a better location,” Avila said. “We’re in the middle of an industrial complex, close to the Hard Rock Café, so everyone knows exactly where we’re at. It’s easy for customers to get in and out, which also makes it easy for us to handle deliveries any time of day.”
Although CES Davie has only been open for a month, Avila is definitely looking forward to building upon the City Electric Supply reputation of incredible personal service.
“One of the great things about City Electric Supply is the personal relationship you build with customers,” he said. “It’s a one-on-one relationship where your customer isn’t just a number, but someone you want to make sure is getting what they need. With CES Davie opening, we’re adding to that personal service and family atmosphere that’s so unique to CES.”
“Thanks to that focus on just serving the customer, they’ll pass 20 different supply houses to come work with you,” Avila continued. “It doesn’t matter if the order is for $10 or $10,000, they’ll come see you so they don’t have to deal with headaches somewhere else.”
Location, Location, Location
Another huge positive? CES Davie is strengthening the already-strong network of CES branches in the Fort Lauderdale market.
“At CES, every branch complements each other,” Avila explained. “CES Davie is yet another location where we have a lot of customers who have jobs in the vicinity. This branch is making it so much easier for them to pick up here without having to drive further out and lose money or time. It’s really a win-win.”
And of course, for a branch near the coast of Florida, you can’t ignore the marinas.
“We’re already looking into working with the CES Marine Division,” Avila said. “Lots of marinas, skiffs, yachts, vessels, you name it. There are a lot of services here we can tap into and help out. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”
Customers seem to be looking forward to it, too. According to Avila, they’re excited to have another supplier in their city.
“The feedback we’ve received has been great. I think part of that goes back to the location. We’re getting a lot of walk-in business, and it’s picking up every day.”
Teamwork First
The increase in business has been a huge sigh of relief for Avila and his team. It’s been an unusual year to say the least, and he doesn’t deny that it’s been challenging. However, they’ve come out on top so far with some pretty smart moves.
“The main thing was just filling inventory,” Avila said. “New branch, new location, so you have to bring a lot into stock to get started. Luckily, we had TAMCO’s Port St. Lucie facility just up the coast from us, so we’ve been able to fill out a lot of our shelves with in-house brands — TAMCO, Tamlite, F4P, Centaur, MCG. It helped out a lot, and it should help expose our customers to the TAMCO family of products, too.”
Luckily for Avila, he has his Operations Manager Robert Estrada to thank for that strategic move.
“Estrada’s been here for many years. He has a lot of knowledge and experience, and he was huge in getting material in. Even if he had to go pick it up, we didn’t have to wait long to get material on the shelves.”
And even though CES Davie is just running with three employees right now, counting Avila himself, he doesn’t doubt that he can give the top branches in his district a run for their money, literally.
“I definitely see us being competitive with branches in our district,” he said. “We are a family, but we also like to see who’s going to be the top dog. We may not be at the top right away, but we’ll give them something to think about.”
Looking Back and Looking Ahead
Now that CES Davie is ready for business, what was been Avila’s favorite moment throughout this journey? It wasn’t the dash to fill inventory or chase after new business. He was most excited to just finally open the doors to his customers.
“Once branch was finally open and had everything in place, it just looked awesome,” he said. “The way the setup is and everything, it makes you feel good that you’re working with such a great company and an even better team. Everyone cares, and we’re just ready to grow the branch.”
With the success other CES branches have had in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, it seems like there’s plenty of growth to go around. No one knows that better than Avila.
“I’ve been in this business since 1985,” he said. “In a previous life, I spent 29 years with another distributor, and now I’ve spent the last five with CES. There’s no one else like City Electric Supply. What gets me is the family atmosphere and the personal relationships it all creates. That personal service gets lost at other places, but not here.”