St. Louis, September 2020 - The Villa Lighting story is that of a family owned business that has grown to be one of the nation’s top lighting distributors by taking care of customers.

Jack and Suzy Villa started Villa Lighting in 1972. They first started selling lights from the back of their family station wagon before opening their first store in south St. Louis.

 “I used to take the lightbulbs up there on Kingshighway and Southwest and I would roll them in,” Jack Villa, Founder of Villa Lighting said as he reflected on the company’s early days.

 “Last year we sold over $250 million worth of lighting,” Jack said. “And I remember when there were no dollars of lighting. So every customer and every order is huge to me, still to this day.”

Customers credit Villa’s level of service as a reason to work with Villa Lighting. 

Davis shared an example of how the Villa team offered a higher level of service than you would typically expect from lighting distributor. Villa helped TD4 Electrical with the renovation of the nation’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater.

“During the Muny, they doubled the size of the project,” Davis said. “They tried to cram phase one and two into one off-season.”

“That would have been impossible to do without the strong cohesion between Villa and TD4, and the on-time delivery of lights.” Davis said. “In fact, there was one situation where Johnny (Villa, the company’s CEO) actually brought over some lights in the back of his pickup truck to assure that we were successful.”

That sort of service has helped Villa land long-term accounts with major American retailers.

“We’ve been doing Walgreens for maybe 25 years,” Jack Villa said. “Target for 15…or maybe more. We still do things with Best Buy. Chick Fil A.”

“These are all people that I called on,” Jack Villa said. “And thank God we have these young guys to pick it up now that we’re at the higher level. I’m a lightbulb salesman. I still like selling lightbulbs.”

Villa distributes lights from more than three hundred manufacturers from around the globe. Villa has also been ahead of the game when it comes to new technology and techniques.

“We sold WalMart on group re-lamping,” Jack Villa said. “Which means that they would go in every two or three years and take all the tubes out and replace them all so they wouldn’t have maintenance in between. But it was hard because (Wal Mart founder) Sam (Walton) wanted them to burn until they were out.”

Helping customers innovate to save money and improve their business is a priority. Villa’s 200,000 square foot facility built in 2007 is a LEED Silver facility, showcasing how customers can reduce energy and maintenance costs by “going green.”

Company Vice President Steve Barker says that kind of innovation is vital to take care of customers.

“Obviously you have to be competitive to win some of the accounts we have, like Target, Bass Pro, Crate and Barrel, and Pet Smart,” Steve Barker, Vice President of Villa Lighting said. “But you also have to service them.”

“If you’ve had an account for twenty years, obviously the things we were selling twenty years ago are now antiques,” Barker said.  “Now we’re into LED. You have to keep creating value. You have to help your customer achieve their lighting goals.”

Villa maintains a huge inventory of lighting supplies in their St. Louis warehouse to ensure that each of their customers lights are always in stock. It is important that Villa’s customers can have what they need when they need them.

“We’ve got $25 million in inventory in this warehouse,” Barker said. “If we’re doing business with you, we’re going to have your lighting products for you when you need them.”

Servicing the needs of clients is why Villa has held onto some of the nation’s largest accounts for years.

“If you look at a Target store, all the track lighting that’s in there came from St. Louis,” Jack Villa said. “and it’s miles and miles and miles of it.”

And when it’s time to do something new, rest assured that Villa Lighting can and will be there from the very beginning of a customer’s project to make sure it is a success. Villa employs certified design engineering teams with expertise in the very latest lighting techniques and technologies.

“We want to team up with their architects and engineers,” Barker said. “and then we can help them develop the lighting plans and designs.”   

Jack Villa says the Villa staff – most of whom have been with him for many years - empower Villa Lighting to offer a level of service to their customers that goes beyond what many expect today.

It is that level of service, professionalism and family touch that drives customer loyalty.

“We’ve done millions and millions of dollars in the past,” Davis says of TD4 Electricals relationship with Villa, “and we anticipate doing millions more in the future.”

“We’re small enough to be nimble,” Barker said. “but we’re big enough to have the horsepower to support some of the biggest retailers in the country.”

--George Sells & Ron Watermon, StorySMART Video News, reporting for Villa Lighting Supply