Light brigade

By Sam Harvey
Staff Reporter

	Coastal Point • SAM HARVEY Denney Electric Supply offers a multitude of fixtures, and everything else for lighting.

It’s been more than 20 years since Dennis McCormick opened the local Denney Electric Supply, south of Millsboro on Route 113. According to his younger son, John, dad has retired to Florida — but he and his older brother, Mark, just keep rolling along at Denney Electric.

John McCormick said the family had at one time partnered with the Denney family, which still runs several stores around Pennsylvania. The McCormicks went independent more than 10 years ago, but still operate as Denney Electric Supply.

With his father’s name being Dennis — Dennis, Denney — close enough, McCormick joked (and they do still purchase with their former partners on occasion, he added).

Originally from the Philadelphia area, McCormick said the family had moved to Delaware in the early 1980s. He attended Indian River High School, from junior year on, and his brother entered Indian River High School as a freshman.

Before that, McCormick said, his father had a summer place in Fenwick Island, and seeing construction crews left and right, he’d come to realize the need for an electric supply house in the area.

The rest is history. The family opened the local Denney Electric Supply in 1985, and McCormick commented on the change since then. “Big change,” he remarked. “Just watching the traffic out on (Route 113) — at this time of year, it used to be you’d see a couple cars go by, and then it might be another five minutes before you saw anyone else. Now it’s always busy, all the time.”

McCormick estimated that 70 percent of his customers are in the trades (builders or electricians) — mostly custom builders, or people from the smaller outfits, he said. Denney Electric Supply can do bulk orders, but he said their strength was in diversity.

“With the less expensive products — there, we’re getting into competition with the Lowe’s, the Home Depots, and we try not to do that, on a price scale,” McCormick pointed out. “But they might have three or four manufacturers and carry the whole line — we have 30 or 40 manufacturers on display.”

However, McCormick said they do offer a range of less expensive, “builder grade” products as well, for the customers who don’t want to put $10,000-worth of lighting fixtures into their house.

“We try to carry a little bit of everything,” he said. “For example, we have brass chandeliers in the $50 to $60 range, but we also have brass chandeliers in the $500 range.”

And that was another area where the Denney Electric Supply showroom is important, McCormick added. With the advent of the Internet, he said, some customers come in with printouts and prices. But while the $50 and the $500 chandeliers might look the same in a picture, people find their differences quite distinct in looking at them in person, he said.

Conversely, some pictures on the Internet just don’t do a product justice, he added. Especially with some of the darker, earth-toned fixtures, where pictures often fail to pick up patterns and luster.

Earth-tones are popular of late, he said, although many other customers go for the modern, brushed nickel and high-polished silver looks.

McCormick said the sales staff at Denney Electric Supply often works with people in design, or recommend they bring in their floor plans when they are ready to shop for lighting fixtures. “So the sales force can get a feel for room sizes,” he explained. “But as far as styles, it just comes down to a customer’s personal preference. Some people like to go with one theme throughout. Other people like to mix and match.”

There are plenty of combinations around Denney Electric Supply’s 2,500-square-foot showroom, and McCormick noted some recent additions — decorative items like mirrors, pictures and clocks. “We’ve put a focus on some of the added accents over the past couple of years,” he said.

Lamps, floor lamps, post lights, sconces, vanity fixtures and chandeliers, and everything in between, still make up the bulk of the merchandise, but McCormick noted other electrical accoutrements, like paddle fans, central vacuum systems and heat mats for tile floors, as well.

And Denney Electric Supply still has all the nuts and bolts (and power tools) for the professional electrical contractor.

For more information, visit the Web site at www.denneyelectric.com, or call (302) 934-8885. They’re open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Route 113, just south of Millsboro.