Introduction
About Us
IN THE BEGINNING Jandorf Electric Specialty was founded in Baltimore, Maryland around 1947 when Louis Jandorf went to New York City looking for electrical supplies, sockets and cords. Repair items were scarce due to World War II, but people repaired their items instead of throwing them away. One of their big sellers at the time was the iron cord. As in most family businesses, Louis’ two sons, Louis and Ross joined their father focusing their efforts on large appliance stores. Dryer vents, cord fittings, thermostats and venting were some of the parts they carried during this time period.
CREATING THE CATEGORY Natural expansion and growth occurred as they began to sell to hardware stores. Jandorf has a history of listening to the needs of their customers. The Jandorf yellow box was a suggestion by one of their customers. The country was buying houses and with home ownership came the fixing and repairing of items. The stores needed a method for organizing the items. There were small, medium and large drawers each
with its own internal configuration. By focusing on the stores’ needs the business continued to expand. Starting from Baltimore there were two sales routes; one was to Florida and the other to New Orleans. One year Louis would go to Florida and Ross would go to New Orleans. And the following year they would flip flop. To this day many hardware stores remember the Jandorfs and their wives visiting their store on these road trips.
Jandorf was growing and thriving, creating the specialty electrical and hardware business. Their success led to an increase in competition as more distributors entered the specialty business. In 1993 Jandorf was acquired by Orrco, Inc., moving its headquarters from Baltimore, Maryland to Orrville, Ohio in 1995.
Pg. v
Ph 800-638-3647 • Fax 330-467-7442 • www.jandorf.com
JMCE LC#211109
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker