Of our three founding companies, RERO has the longest and most diverse history. Our Rochester headquarters location owes its roots to the mergers and acquisitions of the companies that make up its history today. The oldest of the original companies dates back to before the Civil War. Its history merges together the history of the S.B. Roby Company and ReQua Electric Supply which merged operations in 1982, and later merged locations and formed RERO Distribution Corporation in 1991.
S.B. Roby Cat.#1, 1928
RERO Distribution Corp.
May 7, 1982 ReQua Electrical Supply Co., Inc. joined the S.B. Roby Company and F.F. Despard Co., Inc. as subsidiaries of RERO Management Corporation. While the basic purpose of the merger was to combine financial, capital and managerial resources, all three companies continued to operate as separate businesses. In July 1991, all three subsidiaries were consolidated into a single company and renamed RERO Distribution Companies, Inc. The outstanding reputations of our companies have been established with over 450 years of combined service in our trading areas.
S.B. Roby
In 1857, Sidney Breese Roby founded the Sidney B. Roby Company as a small carriage supply house. The Company operated at several locations in Rochester before settling at 208 South Avenue in 1895. The business changed a great deal over the next eight decades becoming a supply house for sporting goods, firearms and automotive parts before finally evolving into its current position as the area's leading industrial supplier of tools and abrasive products. In 1914, the S.B. Roby Company became an authorized distributor for Norton abrasive products, which, remains a flagship line for Horizon, today. As a leader in the industry, Roby secured one of the first major systems contracts in the area with Xerox, and later introduced DATOE, the innovative on-site terminal method of systems contracting.
ReQua Electrical Supply
ReQua was incorporated as an electrical supply distributor on January 14, 1916 by William A. ReQua. The business, which was briefly conducted from ReQua's residence at 478 Arnett Blvd., operated for several years at 95-97 St. Paul Blvd. before moving to our present location in 1966.
ReQua Delivery Truck
in front of St Paul St. location
At its inception, ReQua sold electrical appliances as well as some of the current electrical supplies carried today. ReQua soon recognized the need to service industrial and commercial accounts and became one of the first supply houses to deliver to its downtown customers via a streetcar courier. The emphasis on full quality service to industrial customers continued to develop as ReQua became a pioneer in system contracting in the early 1960's. ReQua and many of its current manufacturers have grown together with representation dating back to the Company's first decade. The Company's succession of employee ownership began in 1930 and ended in 1982 with the sale to Dick Wilson, one of Horizon Solutions Corporations' owners and the chairman of Horizon's Board of Directors. In 1999, Brady Supply, the Allen Bradley Distributor in Elmira, NY was acquired and merged into RERO's souther tier opperation.