Company Profile
Founded
in 1956 by James McLoughlan, McLoughlan Supplies Limited has remained Newfoundland
and Labrador’s sole exclusive wholesale full line electrical distributor.
From original premises on New Gower Street in St. John’s Newfoundland, McLoughlan’s
expanded to Mill Lane and then in 1972 to Blackmarsh Road and a modern 20,000 sq
foot (1800 sq metre) warehouse, showroom and head office administration facility.
Our Head Office is located on two and half acres within the centre of St. John’s.
This specific location has been expanded to house an indoor pipe and conduit warehouse
along with a second floor warehouse for Lighting World. Over the years another separate
building was added for the industrial division, board and training rooms, offices
and a further ten thousand square foot warehouse for industrial products and over
holding stock.
Rapid expansion form 1984 – 1987 brought McLoughlan’s name and quality
service to the paper mill towns of Grand Falls – Windsor and Corner Brook.
The Halifax/Dartmouth branch in Nova Scotia was opened in November 1995 .
St. John’s
branch has a large Lighting World showroom. To many Newfoundlanders, Lighting World
is McLoughlan’s public persona. There are also Lighting world showrooms in
Grand Falls – Windsor and Corner Brook branches.
The founder and president of McLoughlan Supplies Ltd. passed away on March 16, 1991
and his daughter Ann, who practiced law at the time, gave up her legal career and
took over the company.
The company is proud to say that it has survived and grown over fifty years within
the Newfoundland and Labrador economy, adapting to the ever-changing market place,
to become a major force within the Electrical Distribution business .
WIDE CIRCLE OF OPERATION
The clientele of McLoughlan Supplies Limited range from large industrial/commercial
contractors, offshore oil and gas, mining services, pulp and paper, refinery, all
the way to the residential customer. However, the company’s main thrust continues
to be servicing small to large contractors through the industrial and wholesale
business, making sure the service is maintained at a high level.
“Service” is the operative word, and McLoughlan’s is constantly
trying to adapt to our customers ever-changing requirements. The company ensures
that it maintains knowledgeable and professional employees along with well-stocked
warehouses in each of its four locations. What will sell in Corner Brook, may not
sell in St. John’s. Therefore, the company’s mandate has always been
to hire within the region the branch serves. Every location has its unique customer
base with inventories to match customer needs. To find out more about each location
click here.
St. John’s wholesale and Lighting World divisions along with Head Office are
ISO 9001:2000 registered. The P.R.I.D.E. in our service stands
for the following:
P – PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE
R – RELIABLE PRODUCT
I – INVENTORY TO SUIT CUSTOMER NEEDS
D – DEPENDABLE SERVICE
E – EXPERIENCED STAFF
The largest operation is the St. John’s branch. Due to the immense and diverse
customer base, the company decided in the late 1980’s to create divisions
and assign customers as per their needs. Hence the Wholesale, Industrial and Project
divisions evolved, and today they are solid business modules within the St. John’s
branch. For a more detail look at each Division within St. John’s branch please
click here.
Finally, within the wide circle of operation is our retail division, Lighting World.
The St. John’s Lighting World is the largest showroom east of Montreal and
sells far more then just light fixtures, it’s effectively one stop shopping
for anything electrical for the home, from range hoods to door chimes, intercoms
to table lamps and air exchangers.
This division in St. John’s has lighting consultants on staff who will look
at a customer’s blueprint in route to a perfect fixture or even visit the
home to get a better focus for the space available and colour scheme with which
they’re dealing. This service is at no change to the customer.
McLoughlan’s has Lighting World showrooms on a smaller scale in Grand Falls-Windsor
and Corner Brook, Newfoundland. For more information about Lighting World and their
products and services please click here.
INDEPENDENT ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS
As well as maintaining quality service up front, McLoughlan’s has made a number
of behind the scene changes over the years, to guarantee the company a competitive
edge. McLoughlan’s was among the founding companies of Span Can (later Seabell),
established in 1965 as a way for independent distributors to pool their buying power
and purchase products at prices approaching and equaling those paid by larger competitors.
By the 1990s several of Seabell's largest distributors had effectively outgrown
the group. The group was restructured as Independent Electrical Distributors (I.E.D)
a limited partnership, with Seabell as a partner in its own right.
McLoughlan Supplies Limited is a limited partner in its own right. For more information
regarding I.E.D and I.E.D suppliers click
here.
COMPUTERIZATION AND E-COMMERCE
The company has committed time and money in automating its systems in order to provide
the necessary tools to the staff for good customer service. All McLoughlan’s
staff has access to the company’s in house automated system for all branches
plus the sales staff and administration have access to the internet. Therefore,
if a customer is looking for a specific item, a salesperson can not only check all
McLoughlan’s warehouses, and if that item is unavailable, they can access
the internet from their terminal, checking the manufacturer's warehouse. In other
words, the information is at the salesperson's fingertips.
McLoughlan’s has implemented to preferred customers E-Commerce software known
as CAPNET. This enables the customer to eliminate time in tracking, placing and
checking stock availability as this is a real-time system and exemplifies a true
business-to-business system between trading partners. If you would like more information
on McLoughlan’s E-Commerce System, please contact Ms. Jackie Kirkpatrick at
(709) 576-4091.