SOLVAY — Henderson Wholesale Lamps, LLC has a customer base that’s primarily in Onondaga County, but the firm would like to expand its footprint across Central New York.

“We’ve already started that a little bit,” says David Henderson, the company’s sole owner, noting the business has serviced referrals from outside the county. 

Henderson Wholesale Lamps, which sells lighting to wholesale and commercial customers, is located in a 1,500-square-foot space at 1427 Milton Ave. as the street winds its way through the village of Solvay.

About 85 percent of the firm’s customers are located in Onondaga County, but it would like to attract customers in the neighboring counties as well. 

Henderson Wholesale Lamps services customers from Madison and Oneida counties who pick up their products while making trips to Syracuse. 

Its business customers “have employees that make … runs into Syracuse twice a week, so they’ll just come in and pick their

up,” says Rachel Henderson Kelly, the company’s director of sales and marketing. 

The company also has customers in Oswego and Auburn who drive to Solvay to pick up their lighting products, David Henderson added. 

“Everything we buy is for re-sale. Everything we sell is new. We really don’t look for retail business,” he notes.

The business
Henderson, who started the company nine years ago, says his customer base includes property-management companies, factories, electrical contractors, general contractors, churches, nonprofit organizations. 

Some specific customers include Syracuse–based Sutton Companies, DeWitt–based Longley Jones Management Corp., Syracuse–based Pemco Group, Inc., and Onondaga County government, according to Henderson.

Since launching his company in 2007, Henderson figures he’s sold products to about 300 customers, noting that some are one-time buyers.

The product line includes fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, along with LED fixtures, exit signs, replacement batteries, and emergency lights. 

The company declined to disclose any revenue information.

Henderson’s wife, Pamela, started working for the business in 2013, handling administrative duties and enabling David Henderson to devote more time to his outside-sales efforts. 

The Hendersons’ daughter, Rachel Henderson Kelly, joined the company in February as director of sales and marketing.

The Hendersons are proud of having a family-operated business, something that Rachel Henderson Kelly contends is “becoming more and more rare” in the region.

Henderson Wholesale Lamps is an authorized distributor for Ellwood City, Pennsylvania–based Appalachian Lighting Systems, Inc., manufacturer of LED lighting fixtures, according to its website.

The firm’s suppliers include Cooper Lighting, a subsidiary of Houston, Texas–based Eaton Corp.; Shawnee, Kansas–based EiKO Global, LLC; Salem, Virginia–based Green Energy Concepts Inc; Laurel, Mississippi–based Howard Industries; West Caldwell, New Jersey–based MaxLite, Inc.; and Ontario, California–based Plusrite, according to the site. 

“We made some good connections over the years, and there’s people that we started with and they’ve grown with us,” says David Henderson. 

SYRACUSE — A self-taught baker with a growing home-based cookie business is looking for a storefront in Armory Square. 

Cathy Pemberton, founder and sole owner of three-year-old Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen, wants to move the business that she is running from her house in Camillus to a 1,000–square-foot location in downtown Syracuse. “It’s the natural next step,” Pemberton says. “[I want] everything that’s just mine in one location and have that be the central point.”

She is working with Bethany Holbrook, an economic development and marketing specialist at CenterState CEO’s Downtown Committee of Syracuse, to find locations. Pemberton is also receiving business advice from the Small Business Development Center at Onondaga County College. 

“It will be a few months until I have enough money to open up a retail shop,” she says. Pemberton is unsure what banks she will use to finance the move.

Pemberton is her business’s only employee, and handles the marketing, shopping, accounting, taxes, bookkeeping, cleaning, deliveries, and of course, baking. She is recruiting two workers that will help with baking and deliveries. 

Occasionally, Pemberton bakes at the commissary kitchen at Elbridge Community Church to sell her products at local events like the Junior League of Syracuse Holiday Shoppes, the Buy Local Bash, and the Midnight Shopping Pop-Up in the Sky Armory. 

Pemberton has also sold her cookies in fairs and festivals throughout Central New York like the New York State Blues Festival, the Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival, and the Great New York State Food & Wine Festival in Clayton. 

Most of Pemberton’s orders are from individual customers and businesses. She has 15 business accounts with companies like Liehs & Steigerwald on West Fayette Street, Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters in Destiny USA, and River Rat Cheese in Clayton. Pemberton has been selling her cookies to Taste NY stores in Binghamton and Albany, and she plans to send samples to more of these stores. 

Pemberton calls select clients when she runs special offers. She gets about a whole month of private business orders and 20-25 orders a month from regular customers. Week after week, she sells different amounts of cookies, and she says it’s hard for her to estimate how many cookies she sells.

Pemberton says her average sale is $75-$100. Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen’s annual sales have increased five-fold since Pemberton founded the business in June 2013. 

She declined to reveal sales totals. 

Pemberton calls her customers after they receive their cookies to see if they liked them. “I think it’s nice and a personal touch you don’t get [with other businesses],” she says. 

Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen’s competitors include bakeries that sell products with healthy ingredients, like Zimmer’s Bakes in Weedsport and Mo’Dough in Syracuse. “But I don’t think any of them compare to my cookies and that’s because of the ingredients,” Pemberton contends. “There isn’t anyone else who uses organic and natural ingredients and can have it taste delicious.” 

All the cookies Pemberton sells are her own recipes. She sells 18 cookie flavors like Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip and Rocky Road—12 that can be made gluten-free. The cookies are sold at $3 for a pack of two; she also offers a senior citizen discount of $2 per pack.

Pemberton opened Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen while she worked as an assistant supervisor with the Syracuse City School District. “My true calling is baking, and I figured I could do something with it,” she says. Pemberton continues to work part time at the district. 

When the new store opens, Pemberton plans to sell not only cookies, but also hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and the occasional cookie cake, which is a giant cookie. Pemberton wants to continue to sell to corporate and retail stores, and continue to take online and private orders.

Pemberton will continue to go to the events to network with clients. “I am the face of the company and I don’t think anybody is going to sell it the way I do,” she says. 

She is trying to increase online sales, by adding a “Gifts” page to her website, and promoting the “Cookie of the Month Club” on her Facebook page. Customers can buy a dozen cookies for $19.99 each month. Pemberton is also planning to create a Nutella and pretzel cookie to add to her menu.