B&P Lamp Supply
B&P Lamp Supply of 843 Old Morrison Highway in McMinnville is celebrating its 50th year in business in 2005 as a family owned local business.
Paul Barnes and his father, Lawson, founded the business in their basements in 1955. Today, B&P Lamp Supply is a major wholesaler of antique-style lamps, hanging lamps, lamp shades, fabric and glass, antique lighting products, oil lamps, reproduction kerosene lamps, and miscellaneous hardware and fixtures. Sales go to over 5,000 antique lamp dealers covering all 50 states in the U.S. plus Canada, with the northeastern U.S. being their largest market area.
Co-founder Paul Barnes is CEO, while son Barry is president and son Mike is vice president. Barry and Mike’s two children each have been active in the business with summer employment. Barry’s daughter, Laura, has recently begun part-time employment doing product design. B&P Lamp Supply has 35 employees and 105,000 square feet of facility for assembly, warehousing, a fully stocked retail storeroom, and services. Three years ago, a new 30,000-square-foot addition was constructed to provide needed warehousing space.
The retail showroom is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with many discounted closeouts available to benefit the discriminating shopper. The public is invited to come and shop.
The primary marketing arm for the company is five catalogs which are produced in color with individual product pictures. The catalogs are updated every three to four years, and detail over 3,000 items sold. Several thousand catalogs are mailed to dealers and antiquers all over North America.
The company also has two active Web sites to support sales. Wholesale customers are serviced by www.bplampsupply.com, while users needing replacement parts and other components can visit www.antiquelampsupply.com to order what is desired. Internet sales are growing.
Specific services offered by B&P Lamp Supply include:
While B&P Lamp does do lamp assembly, components are purchased to their specifications and designs primarily from the Orient. Extensive warehousing allows for all 3,000-plus catalog items to be shipped within 24 hours of order receipt in most cases.
The Barnes family has researched antique lamps and lighting for 50 years. New product ideas have come from seeing and purchasing antique lamps from all over the world. The family regularly attends display shows around the world for continuing new sources and ideas. Their knowledge and expertise in antique lamps are a key company strength.
Barnes family members conduct their own research. Their catalogs have lamp designs that go back a few hundred years. The family prides itself on bringing new products to market that are unique designs not copied from competition. Many of the fine lamps in the product line feature hand-blown, hand-painted glass which is especially beautiful to view.
Their “Gone with the Wind” hand-painted floral design collection is particularly attractive. The firm also catalogs a full line of antique light bulbs that go back to the Thomas Edison early designs.
The newest product line is called candle covers. These fabricated devices appear as partially burn candles, have an electric light inside, and would be furnished with candelabra or other candle settings. These are available in several new designs and are offered without current competition.
The largest dealer for B&P Lamp Supply is Lehman Hardware of Ohio, which serves a significant nearly Amish population. Amish customers purchase the oil/kerosene powered lamps, and have helped B&P Lamp fine tune the design of such lamps for continued home use.
B&P Lamp uses global sourcing to find desired antique lamp component capability. They recently identified a new supplier for ruby red lamp bases where the intrinsic color matches a tight standard of expectation. One only needs to lift such a base up to a light to appreciate their efforts to find such precise sources. The same rigor is required for hand-blown and hand-painted glassware, both of which are a manufacturing art form.
B&P Lamp Supply owns 12 acres of land in their immediate location. The location was on the main road from McMinnville to Manchester until 1970. Given their overseas product component sourcing, Mike Barnes indicated a lot of interest in the pending foreign trade zone initiative under way within Warren County. This potential county offering would directly assist their business.
Paul Barnes says the antique lamp business is very trend oriented, and that his company has successfully adapted to industry trends throughout the years. We especially appreciate families who have adopted Warren County for their business home.
We say Happy 50th Birthday to B&P Lamp Supply. Thank you to the Barnes family.