Commerce Corporation, just like most of the independent garden centers it serves, is a family business spanning over 80 years and three generations. Commerce CEO, Richard Lessans sees this as an important bond his company shares with its family of customers.
?My grandfather Israel Lessans and his brothers, Abraham, Dave and Sam actually started the company in 1923 as an electrical wholesale supply business called Atlantic Electric,? says Richard. ?My father came into the business after World War II, along with his brothers. He redirected the company?s emphasis from electrical to general merchandise - housewares, hardware, then finally lawn and garden supplies.?
?Through the 60?s and 70?s we continued to grow as we sold to all of the leading independent garden centers and mass merchants,? remembers Richard Lessans.
In 1970, Richard got onboard, spanning the family?s involvement to its third generation.
?I worked here as a kid during all the holidays and summers and got such a great understanding of the business,? he says. ?The last thing I wanted to do was go into any other business. I graduated from the University of Maryland in June of 1970 and was on my way to graduate school. I was in the Army Reserves and had to go to boot camp. I got out between semesters at graduate school and my father gave me a part time job as a salesman in Washington D.C. End of story. Or beginning of story, if you prefer. I fell in love with what I was doing and the rest is history!?
In 1982, Commerce acquired N.W. Shorb, a lawn and garden distributor in Washington, D.C. in order to better service the growing family of leading independent garden centers throughout suburban Washington D.C. That was followed by the 1989 acquisition of Gardenville Supply, an exceptional lawn and garden supplier in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
?That acquisition [Gardenville Supply] was very important,? says Richard, ?because it allowed us to serve the independent garden centers in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.?
1992 was a very important year, because it was at that time Commerce brought Darbco, the primary distributor in New England and another family-owned business (the Rottenbergs), into its family. This allowed Commerce to serve the New England independent garden center businesses. It also effectively expanded Commerce?s coverage from the North Carolina border all the way up into Maine.
The 21st century started with a bang when in November, 2001 Commerce opened up a 160,000 square foot facility in Cleveland, Ohio to accommodate the Midwest market. In 2005, Commerce has reached the ripe age of 82, and according to Richard Lessans the tradition continues just as energetically as it ever did.
?Not only is it our 82nd birthday as a company, it?s also my father?s 82nd birthday as well! So we feel proud to be not only part of a family business, but also a family business that serves other family businesses,? he says. ?And our customers like that. They like the fact that we are very accessible, that family members run the business, that in effect, we are all of us one big family - helping each other grow in this wonderful new century of opportunity!?