CES Indianapolis South Celebrates Official Grand Opening
After several delays from the pandemic, Branch Manager Duane Handshoe and District Manager Doug Hornback finally found the perfect location for the newly established City Electric Supply Indianapolis South branch.
“We were actually opening a branch in that location prior to the pandemic, but the pandemic put it on hold. When we got the okay, we looked at 4–5 other properties, but the realtor said that one is still available,” Doug explained.
With over 50 years of industry experience between them, and a great location, CES Indianapolis was off to a great start.
The Next Step
The next step after opening? Throwing an official grand opening event to celebrate a successful launch and announce the new location to the community.
“The key for us was trying to promote the grand opening in October. CES Marketing was a huge help in advertising on social media and spreading the word. Plus, we wanted to make sure all our vendors were on-site to support us. Their support was a huge part of it for us,” Duane said.
Duane continued, explaining that having a successful launch all comes down to the right people.
“Then, we just had to make sure we had the right people in our inner circle, from our operations guy to our sales rep. It was a process, but it’s been fun,” Duane added.
The estimated turnout for the grand opening event shows just how much their hard work paid off.
“I’d say about 75 people showed up, and I was kind of overwhelmed with the response we got,” Doug said.
“I think I left my desk at 9 a.m. and people started coming in. I didn’t get back to my desk until around 3:30 p.m.,” Duane added.
It’s easy to see how this event turned out to be a huge success for this new Indianapolis supplier.
Vendors, Visitors, & Food
“I think we had nine vendors total. So, we had a lot of support from them. We also had incredible support from other CES locations nearby,” Duane said. “On top of that, we had a great customer base come out and see us, too. Some were our customers, and some were new customers.”
Representatives from City Electric Supply also came by to show support.
“We had VP of Operations Jaime Marujo come in for it, Co-COO John Gray flew in for it, and I think we even had Amanda Dupre from credit come out to it, too. So, it was very cool to see that side of it and have all support, not only from our customers but from our internal teams,” Duane added.
And, of course, there was great food.
“Johnson’s Barbeque was just a few minutes away from us, and they actually had a food truck that they brought on-site for us which was fantastic,” said Duane.
“Those people are going to be talking to their family and friends about City Electric Supply. The word of mouth is amazing,” Duane said.
From the looks of things, the CES Indianapolis South team has a bright future ahead of them.
