Capitol Lighting: A Family Retailing Tradition Celebrates 90 Years Of ‘Making Lives Brighter’
The Respected, Popular Lighting Authority ‘Fixture’ And Award-Winning Industry Leader
Continues To Flourish In New Jersey And Florida
From a small shop on Prince Street in Newark, N.J. in 1924 to now more than 85,174 square feet of storefront showroom space in eight cities and in all 50 states and around the world through its 1-800LIGHTING.com, the Lebersfeld family’s retailing tradition officially celebrates nine decades of ‘making lives brighter’.
Illuminating more than a million homes – with Capitol Lighting’s high quality traditional to transitional, mid-century to modern design lighting fixtures — the small business leader today with four showrooms in New Jersey and four in Florida generates more than $40 million in annual showroom and Internet revenue. It features a diverse selection of 300 design lines in 40 lighting categories with 500,000 products available online; employs 170 professional lighting consultants, showroom managers, warehouse, delivery, installation and administrative staff (ranging in age from 20 to 101); serves more than 12,000 PRO designers and donates more than $170,000 annually to community nonprofits.
Always evolving to embrace ever-changing industry trends and meet the needs of its retail customers and professional designers, the company continues to expand its online presence
and excels by employing the latest technologies, customer communications and professional designer education practices.
This milestone anniversary year, Capitol Lighting has opened new showrooms in Eatontown, NJ and Wellington, Fla., and produced two online video series. The latter offers five accredited CEU webinars to serve design professionals countrywide, and a diversified online “news to use” video series produced for consumers that showcases the latest lighting industry trends and innovations, lighting tips and ‘how to’ demos. Commemorative ‘making lives brighter’ programming includes grand openings, 90th anniversary receptions, designer council events, a national and in-store sweepstakes, and construction and dedication of a new home for Habitat For Humanity of South Palm Beach County.
Continuing to embrace its original core values, guaranteed best pricing business model and distinguished customer service through five generations — with 21 Lebersfelds employed over the years — the industry-respected and recognized “lighting authority” remains family owned and operated. Its story began when Ethel and Max Lebersfeld, recent immigrants from Austria-Hungary, opened a lighting and home furnishings store in Newark, NJ in 1924 just as homes were being converted from gas lighting to electric. It was Ethel’s entrepreneurial spirit and market foresight to seize the retail lead in the ‘wiring’ revolution by selling electric lamps and fixtures, coupled with Max’s vocation as an electrical contractor that ‘lit the stage’ for what would become one of the country’s largest upscale lighting retailers.
Their son, Arthur, soon conceptualized a lighting store that was not only functional, but decorative as well. Today, Arthur’s sons Herman and Max Lebersfeld serve as co-chairmen of the board. Herman’s sons, Ken and Eric serve the company as chief executive officer and president/chief marketing officer respectively. Max’s sons, Jason and Brian serve as chief technology officer/chief operating officer and e-platform development manager respectively. Daniel Silver, a member of the family’s fifth generation, has started his lighting career in Florida.
“There are very few companies that have prospered for 90 years, and only a small percentage of those that can claim that achievement while under the same family ownership and operation for several generations,” noted Max Lebersfeld.
Brother Herman Lebersfeld added that the family is proud to report that several of Capitol’s employees have remained with the company for 25 years or more. “In fact, our ‘unofficial historian’ is 101-year-old Hy Goldman who was hired 73 years ago by our visionary co-founder and family matriarch Ethel Lebersfeld. He is a great inspiration and role model for employees of all generations at all levels; we still set and measure our core values and best practices based on the ‘Goldman’ standard he learned while working for Ethel and Max.”
Testament to its commitment to quality and on-going market relevance, Capitol Lighting has earned numerous awards and recognitions. Among these, include the prestigious ARTS award for “Best Lighting Showroom” in the East Atlantic; New Jersey Monthly magazine’s “Family Business of the Year” and “Best of New Jersey” for “Where to Shop for Lighting.” This month, Ken Lebersfeld was recognized by the South Florida Business Journal as a 2014 Ultimate CEO.
Committed to enhancing the communities in which each showroom serves, Capitol Lighting began partnering in 2011 with Habitat for Humanity and HGTV star Rob Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) to launch its “Making Lives Brighter” Campaign. Through this initiative, Capitol Lighting collects and donates fixtures for resale at Habitat for Humanity Restores in New Jersey and South Florida.
For showroom locations and hours of operation or more information, visit 1-800LIGHTING.com or call 1-800-544-4846.
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