Distributor eyes more locations in 2005

ELMSFORD, N.Y. - Eastern Distributing is set to open a sales center and warehouse here, making it the second such location for the security products distributor in the New York area. The Elmsford, N.Y., facility will be located only 25 miles from the company’s Mahwah, N.J., sales center, warehouse and headquarters, but its location is important. It helps the company serve Westchester County, an area known for high-end homes and businesses, since the most convenient method of access from New Jersey is the traffic plagued Tappan Zee Bridge. “People just don’t like going over the bridge,” said Bill Gonch, explaining how the new upstate location makes access to the affluent suburb manageable. Gonch will serve as branch manager of Eastern Distributing’s new location. The company plans to open the 4,500-square-foot facility by September. Five employees will staff the location, which will carry products from 230 vendors and stock 15,000 SKUs. This new location comes as Eastern Distributing looks to add more branches next year, according to Nick Scarane, vice president of sales and marketing. The company currently operates a sales and warehouse facility in Greenville, S.C., and shipping hubs in Santa Ana, Calif., and Chicago. “Basically it’s customer demand,” said Scarane, about the decision to grow. “Our vendors and customers are requesting for us to expand.” Scarane declined to release which markets Eastern Distributing may move into in 2005, but said the focus is on the eastern United States. For Eastern Distributing, the Elmsford, N.Y., location represents the company’s second facility this year. It opened a sales office in Maryland in June, but had not previously added any new locations since 2000, when the company first entered the security product distribution market. The company has grown steadily since then. Today it serves 33 out of 50 states. Scarane credits the company’s success with its approach in the security market. “The uniqueness is that we are sales people, not order people,” he said. “We know the product.”