Electrical wholesale distributor City Electric Supply (CES) officially opened its new Lake Oconee store on Nov. 29 to help supply local construction developments.
After spending close to two years searching the area for the perfect location to open a store, CES signed a lease in October for the building at 170 Scott Rd., Eatonton.
“As soon as we put up the ‘Coming Soon’ sign, members of the community were saying, ‘Wow, we’re so glad you guys are here,’” CES Branch Manager Mike Geohagan said. “There are a bunch of contractors here and they drive by us on the busy road, and now that we’re open, they are coming in.”
CES is a family-owned company headquartered in Dallas, Tex. It was founded in 1951 in the United Kingdom and expanded to the United States in 1983.
CES currently employs over 3,000 people at approximately 550 branches across the United States.
CES Senior Regional Manager R.T. Smith said the company’s new Eatonton store is “centralized” related to other CES outlets in Georgia, including two Augusta locations, Athens, Macon, Loganville, and Covington.
“The growth around Lake Oconee is tremendous,” Smith said. “We are fortunate to have a great location and great staff. We are excited to have everything open and moving.”
CES District Manager Steve Frost called it “exciting to be open in Lake Country finally,” and said the reception from local contractors has been very encouraging.
“People keep coming into the store saying, ‘We’re so excited to finally have a distributor in the area,’” Frost said.
“CES has been looking in the Lake Oconee area for places to open a location (since) before the pandemic. To finally be celebrating the opening of this store feels fantastic, and we look forward to seeing all the things CES Lake Oconee will accomplish here,” Regional Manager Buddy Blanton added.
Carl Brown, pre-construction coordinator for Landmark Construction & Development said he’s eager to continue his relationship with the CES team members.
Landmark Construction is a full-service general commercial contractor that worked closely with CES on the buildout of the 6,600-square-foot facility.
“We purchase our gear in-house, and we enjoy doing business with CES, especially Steve and Mike,” Brown said. “With the Lake Oconee location now open, being able just to run up the street and grab some specialty items we need – it’s indescribable how much of a difference it makes.”
The Lake Oconee CES team also includes Operations Manager Jim Whitton, who has been with the company since 2004 and has more than 25 years of experience in distribution.