Lighting up the world for 75 years.
The history of LightBulbs.com is one of perseverance, family, technological embrace and many name changes.
Company Founded in 1951
In 1951, Mel Jacobson launched Mel's Van O Lite in Minneapolis, MN, by selling light bulbs out of the back of a van.
Mel's Van O Lite grew and began providing lighting products to many local retail establishments. The company purchased a fleet of vans and used them to stock and service all their grocery and hardware customers in the Twin Cities.
Company Incorporated
Mel Jacobson incorporated Mel's Van O Lite and partners with friend, Don McLellan, and business continues to grow. Around this time, Mel and Don purchased a warehouse in Northeast Minneapolis and Mel's Van O Lite becomes a widely recognized name in the local Twin Cities area.
In the years to follow, Mel's Van O Lite moved twice more as they continued to grow and need more warehouse and showroom space. Lighting distributors were permitted to only sell one primary lighting vendor; Mel's Van O lite first chose the popular brand Sylvania, and later switched to Westinghouse, followed by GE.
Company Becomes Just Van O Light
In 1982, Mel Jacobson retired, and Don McLellan purchased the company. He ran it with three of his sons; Tom, Dave, and Steve and Don dropped the "Mel's" from the company name.
Van O Lite solidifies its presence in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (as well as many locations in Wisconsin) as a major player in the lighting industry, servicing nearly every grocery and hardware establishment in a 100 mile radius. At this time, Van O Lite was also the primary lighting distributor for the #1 hardware retailer in the state of Minnesota. Since then, over 40 vans have been purchased and put into production to service the Twin Cities and surrounding areas.
First Online Lighting Retailer
Van O Lite becomes the first business in the world to sell lighting products online, when Dave McLellan approved the company building its first website, VanOLite.com. Their initial online catalog offered triple tube compact fluorescents, full spectrum bulbs and flashlights.
The response to their website was immediate, and their eCommerce side of the business took off, setting the stage for the prosperous future.
Lite-House.com Begins
Because Van O Lite was mostly a locally-recognized entity, Lite-House.com was launched as Van O Lite's new dedicated eCommerce website and quickly became the most complete online light bulb store; boasting well over 4,000 lighting products.
Soon, the Flashlight Museum was launched as a showcase of nearly 4,000 flashlights dating back to the late 19th century and inception of the flashlight. Many notable news outlets and TV stations would end up highlighting Van O Lite, Lite-House.com and the Flashlight Museum and their unique offerings.
Van O Lite Becomes Service Lighting
Van O Lite and Lite-House.com merge to create Service Lighting to embrace their growing vision of being a complete lighting solution, offering a wide array of lighting products as well as assisting in large lighting retrofits.
Due to steady growth online, Service Lighting moved from Fridley, MN (after over 30 years) to a new, much larger and modern facility in Maple Grove, MN (where they still reside today).
Lite-House.com Becomes eLightBulbs.com
As Service Lighting continued to support thousands of businesses in Minneapolis, they re-branded their eCommerce identity as eLightBulbs.com. They quickly found that the new name resonated better with their online customer base looking to "buy light bulbs online".
In 2008, eLightBulbs also launched their Business Services, a department of experienced and talented lighting consultants to service businesses world-wide; the Business Services department remains strong today and is growing rapidly.
Where We're at Today
In what is likely to be the final name change, Service Lighting purchased LightBulbs.com and re-builds their entire eCommerce infrastructure from scratch, focusing on user experience, product selection, an intelligent, custom-built lighting search engine, as well as mobile accessibility.
Boasting over 100,000 items in their catalog, LightBulbs.com was launched as the web's largest and most complete lighting store, with low prices, fast shipping and stellar customer service.