When Ira Geller was a sophomore in high school, he took a part time job at House of Lamps, a retail lighting store in Security Square Mall. During college, he worked part time for Dorman’s Lighthouse in Towson MD. At House of Lamps and at Dorman’s Lighthouse, Ira sold light bulbs, light fixtures and table lamps to the retail trade. Upon graduating from college in 1981, Ira was hired by VL Service Lighting to sell light bulbs & ballasts to commercial end users. He called on Baltimore businesses, selling them the new styles of energy efficient lamps. The power companies began raising electricity rates in the early 80’s and Philips Lighting Co. was the first manufacturer to introduce energy saving light bulbs such as the 2-pin compact fluorescent PL13 lamp, the screw in fluorescent SL18 lamp, and the low pressure sodium sox lamp. It was the first major revolution in the lighting industry since the invention of the fluorescent tube 40 years earlier. In 1984 when Ira was 24 years old, he decided to go into business for himself. He stocked the popular light bulbs & ballasts in the basement of his Pikesville MD home, bought an answering machine and a typewriter, hired a truck driver and Geller Lighting was born. A few years later he began dating his customer, Yasmin Kronenberger, the girl with the purchase order book at Loyola Federal Savings & Loan. Ira offered her a much better job with potential, and she started working for him in 1987. Ira & Yasmin married in 1988 and have grown their business into Maryland’s largest independently owned bulb & ballast distributorship, selling millions of light bulbs each year. They recently began their 32nd year in business. Their staff of over 25 employees and million dollar inventory occupy 20,000 square feet of office and warehouse space in southwestern Baltimore County. The Gellers have two children, Carly & Edison. Edison recently started working in the outside sales department during his summer vacation, and Carly has no interest in getting into the lighting business. She buys her light bulbs from Walgreens.
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