THE FOUNDING YEARS 1946-1973

The Almo Corporation, like many successful American businesses, traces its beginnings to the post World War II days of 1946 when Albert Margolis and Morris Green founded a wholesale distribution firm in Center City Philadelphia at a site now occupied by the National Constitution Center.

Almo originally wholesaled replacement parts for radios and later televisions to the dealer service trade through a number of branches in the Middle Atlantic States. In the mid fifties the company expanded into the OEM supply business adding several industrial electronics parts lines distributed to both domestic and international customers. Almo entered the Consumer Products business in the mid sixties distributing electronics items to retail appliance and electronics dealers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area.

In 1968 Almo was acquired by Sterling Electronics a public company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company continued to operate as Almo Electronics Corporation, the largest subsidiary of Sterling, moving its operations in 1969 to a new facility which served as company headquarters for over thirty years. In the fall of 1970 management re-acquired Almo Electronics from Sterling and continues to operate as a privately owned business.

GENERATION II

Morris Green, Almo’s founder passed away in late 1973 and was succeeded by the present CEO, Eugene B. Chaiken. The company grew steadily throughout the 70’s and 80’s by a combination of organic growth and by completing several strategic acquisitions that enlarged Almo’s Consumer Products footprint beyond the Middle Atlantic States. By the late eighties, Almo had sales and warehousing operations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The acquisitions also brought new consumer product categories and created a new talent pool for continued growth.

The dynamic growth of the appliance and electronics business and the opportunities offered by the computer peripheral products business, which Almo had entered in 1988, led to the divesture of the industrial business in 1989. This sale enabled the company to focus on the consumer business and redeploy the sales proceeds into the rapidly growing computer products distribution business.

Following the same formula that led to the solid growth of its consumer segment, the company approached the computer distribution business with a combination of synergistic internal growth by utilizing its multi-location warehouse system and by completing a number of key acquisitions. The Computer Products acquisitions not only expanded Almo’s territory to include the entire Northeastern United States, but also presented an opportunity to manufacture custom configured computer clones under the “Trademark” label which grew dramatically into the company’s largest business segment.

Other acquisitions followed during the 90’s including the 1993 repurchase of the Wire & Cable division that was part of the previously divested Electronics Division and another smaller Wire & Cable operation that was merged into this group in 1997. Consumer Products acquisitions also continued at a brisk pace throughout the 90’s as the company acquired several established appliance and electronic distributors in Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, gaining new territory, product lines, and people.

Following the sale of the Computer business segment to Bell Microproducts, Inc. in late 1998, Almo made a strategic decision to concentrate its resources in consumer appliances, electronics and wire & cable distribution. In August of 2001, Almo moved its headquarters for the third time to a large 160,000 square foot office and regional distribution facility located in an attractive industrial park in Philadelphia expanding total warehouse capacity to over 375,000 square feet.

NEXT GENERATION

As we move into the next century each of our business segments, Major Appliance & Consumer Electronics, Specialty Appliance Products, e-commerce, Premium Incentive and Wire & Cable Products continue to advance at an accelerated pace.

In April of 2004, Warren Chaiken was named President and Chief Operating Officer, launching a new era in our corporate management structure while preserving our successful business philosophy.

Our company has grown steadily over these many years into a unique national distributor of Major Appliances, Consumer Electronics and Wire & Cable products. We operate in over 950,000 square feet in 11 strategically located warehouses throughout the United States, keeping our vendors and our broad national dealer base competitive, by providing them with cutting edge IT services and logistical support.

Operating our business for over 60 years has been challenging, yet rewarding for all Almo stakeholders – vendors, customers, employees and stockholders. Almo has proven again and again, to be an efficient, cost effective distributor with a growing cadre of bright, dedicated employees. “People make companies great, and Almo has great people”.