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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS
\nRobinson Lighting co-owners and siblings Brett and Leigh Robinson in the Winnipeg company\u2019s HQ on Milt Stegall Drive. The pair grew up surrounded by the business and shop talk often ruled dinnertime in their childhood home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt worked out,\u201d he says, chuckling at the memory. \u201cWe still carried on and everybody kind of laughed about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 25 years later, Brett owns the company along with Leigh Robinson. The brother and sister duo are anticipating things will go more smoothly this fall when they host a gala event for partners and vendors in their showroom to celebrate the company\u2019s 90th anniversary.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an \u201cextraordinary milestone\u201d and an achievement that belongs not only to the Robinson family, Brett says, but also to the employees who have helped build the company and the generations of customers, builders, designers and communities that have placed their trust in it.<\/p>\n
In some ways, it seems like just yesterday the company was marking another milestone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the 75th (anniversary) going on,\u201d says Brett, 53.<\/p>\n
\u201cNinety just seems bigger,\u201d adds Leigh, 48. \u201cIt seems like not many companies reach this level, and it\u2019s kind of cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Headquartered at 955 Milt Stegall Dr., Robinson Lighting specializes in residential and commercial lighting design, consultation and premium fixtures.<\/p>\n
In addition to serving customers in Manitoba, the company has a showroom in Minneapolis and two in B.C.: Kelowna and Burnaby (which operates under the name Norburn Lighting & Bath). Robinson Lighting\u2019s 80 employees, 37 of whom work in Winnipeg, also fill online orders from across Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t While the company got its start in 1936, the Robinson family\u2019s history with illumination starts 85 years before that.<\/p>\n Brett and Leigh\u2019s great-great-grandfather, Thomas Robinson, ventured into the lighting industry as a candle maker in Montreal around 1850.<\/p>\n His son, William Wadby (W.W.) Robinson, moved to Winnipeg and established a successful lighting business in 1919 that, according to family lore, was the first to supply pre-wired lighting fixtures across Western Canada.<\/p>\n W.W. died in 1935. His son, B.A. (Burt) Robinson, wound the company down and started his own lighting business, B.A. Robinson Co., on the third floor of the Bedford Building on Market Avenue. The company continued to grow and eventually moved to Sherbrook Street.<\/p>\n Burt\u2019s sons Bruce and Ross took over the company in 1973. They expanded its offerings to include plumbing and heating distribution products.<\/p>\n Eventually, the brothers decided to split the enterprise into two distinct companies. Roughly speaking, Ross took control of the plumbing and heating side and started what is now known as Robinson Supply. Bruce continued to pursue lighting and established what is now Robinson Lighting.<\/p>\n Bruce was heavily involved in the industry as a whole. He served a term as president of the American Lighting Association (ALA), a trade organization that represents designers, manufacturers and retailers across North America, and, in 2003, became the first Canadian inducted into its hall of fame.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Brett and Leigh grew up around Robinson Lighting. As children they had fun riding the conveyor belt in the warehouse, and as teenagers they started working at the company.<\/p>\n In an attempt to ensure Robinson Lighting didn\u2019t monopolize dinnertime conversation in the family\u2019s Charleswood neighbourhood home, Brett and Leigh\u2019s mother, Lynne, instituted a rule they could only talk about business for five minutes each evening.<\/p>\n Some nights the family stuck to that limit; other nights, they explored the topic longer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big part of our life, so we wanted to talk about it,\u201d Brett says. \u201cI bought the house we grew up in, so now I can kind of see us sitting around the table, bantering back and forth about work.\u201d<\/p>\n Brett and Leigh took over the company after Bruce died in 2010.<\/p>\n The lighting industry has changed dramatically over the decades, from traditional fixtures to LED technology, smart lighting systems and design-focused solutions. (The company\u2019s Winnipeg showroom currently has more than 1,800 styles of lighting on display.)<\/p>\n Robinson Lighting has adapted to those changes while maintaining the relationship-focused approach that has been part of the company since the beginning, Leigh says.<\/p>\n One of her favourite parts of running the business is interacting with staff members, who she considers kin. \u201cIt\u2019s truly a family business,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Lighting is often the last thing the average person thinks about when they walk into a space, but it\u2019s one of the key things interior designers consider when working on a project, says Kurt Espersen-Peters, an interior design professor in the University of Manitoba\u2019s faculty of architecture.<\/p>\n \u201cLighting has an impact,\u201d he says. \u201cIf the lighting is not going to be working or functioning properly, you\u2019re not going to have a functioning space.\u201d<\/p>\n Espersen-Peters offers Robinson Lighting kudos for reaching the 90-year milestone. \u201cThey must really know what they\u2019re doing to be able to stay in business that long.\u201d<\/p>\n Jon Melchi thinks so. After he joined the ALA last year as president and CEO, Melchi says colleagues identified Robinson Lighting as a company he should familiarize himself with.<\/p>\n In the last 20 years, employees from the company have been involved in nearly 70 ALA committees, Melchi says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat that tells me is that they are always willing to share with others in the industry what they\u2019re doing, and equally as important, they\u2019re always willing to learn what others are doing,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re always trying to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Robinson Lighting pays for each employee to take the ALA\u2019s lighting specialist course, which trains them in all aspects of the residential lighting industry.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u201cThey\u2019ve always found a way to invest in their people,\u201d Melchi says. \u201cThey\u2019re representative of the very best in our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n If Brett and Leigh have anything to do with it, Robinson Lighting will shine for years to come.<\/p>\n Brett knocks on the wooden table the siblings are sitting at as he considers the company\u2019s future. \u201cAt the 100th (anniversary), we\u2019ll remember this moment right now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS
\nRobinson Lighting\u2019s \u2018builder room\u2019 at 995 Milt Stegall Dr. features more affordable options for first-time homeowners as well as builders constructing multiple properties.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS
\nBen Twoheart organizes the stock room.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS
\nQuality control specialist Andy Szczepanik sorts through some product inside the company\u2019s warehouse.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS
\nFuturistic lighting fixtures among the hundreds on display in the showroom.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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