T E X A R K A N A M A G A Z I N E
photo by Matt Cornelius
bought a single-engine, single-seat Aeronca Chief,” according to WES. “He would fly 70- 100 miles to places like El Dorado, Camden and DeQueen, land and catch a ride with a customer to make his sales calls.” He was truly committed to getting this business off the ground. “The day after their wedding, Amos and his bride, Carolyn, set off on a honeymoon business trip. They traveled to Chicago, New York, and Boston to set up the business,” according to WES history. The first official location of WES was in an old grocery store building that Amos and Carolyn rented on West 3rd Street in Texarkana. According to company history, “For [around] three or four months, it was just the two of them, but they quickly expanded on their early success.” By 1952, they built their own 10,000 square-foot building, and by 1969, they needed a 25,000 square-foot facility. Wholesale Electric Supply grew exponentially, and along with it, the family. “My grandfather and grandmother started Wholesale Electric Supply,” said WES Vice President Chris McCulloch. “My grandfather was the warehouse manager, counter sales, inside sales and delivery. My
grandmother was the accountant. They started the company together, and when they started having children, she stayed home, and he kept the business going. One of my favorite memories of working at Wholesale when I was younger was getting to go to my granddad’s office during my breaks and talking about baseball and football.” In 1978, fresh from college, Buddy formally joined his father’s business. Years had passed and WES was nearly unrecognizable; it was not the same company that was once birthed in an old grocery store in town. The industry was changing its face. Modern technologies and advancements flooded the field with no introduction. A newborn environmental movement swept the nation into a different energy conversation. Buddy was eager though, and he packed an arsenal of new ideas for the business. “At that time, it was difficult for a single- house independent electrical distributor to survive the changing times,” according to WES history. “Wholesale Electric needed to grow to maintain [our] sales territory against the competition. So, the company decided
to push outward. The first three or four stores [WES] opened helped recapture their original business from the 40s and 50s, with El Dorado and Magnolia becoming stores number four and five.” In the early 2000s, WES gained another young, college educated McCulloch. Chris, like his father, Buddy, could not have joined the family business sooner because the nation was in the midst of a financial crisis which disrupted critical markets. Chris took a page from his father’s playbook; he came home from college prepared with a fresh set of ideas that helped the company adapt to the change in technology and e-commerce. Today, under the leadership of the second and third generation of McCullochs, Wholesale Electric successfully operates 60 stores while consistently expanding in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee and Missouri, and ships to many other states via distribution centers in Little Rock and Dallas. Texarkana’s WES has yet to reach its limit. Compounded with familial strength, ties to the local community are a key component in the company’s cultivation of success. “My favorite thing about the
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