NEW YORK — B&H Photo, the New York A/V, IT and digital imaging dealer, has joined the ProSource buying group as its 17th PRO-level member.
Since its founding in 1973, B&H has become a central player in the New York-metro area CE scene, and maintains an even larger presence online, ranking 13th in TWICE’s Top 20 E-tailers rankings, ahead of Game- Stop, Sam’s Club, QVC and Staples.
The business is closely held by principal Herman Schreiber (the “H” in B&H), and caters to a pro and consumer crowd with photo and video production equipment, A/V gear, home theater and whole-home system displays, and workshops and seminars held out of its lone two-story superstore on Manhattan’s Ninth Avenue.
It is also renowned for its unique overhead track system that pulls purchased items from inventory and ferries them to the checkout area.
The dealer, a past winner of a TWICE Excellence in Retailing Award, placed 31st on TWICE’s Top 100 CE Retailers Report, with $375 million in qualified sales last year.
“I am extremely excited to welcome B&H to Pro- Source,” said Dave Workman, co-president/COO of the BrandSource division. “Their reputation in the New York market and throughout the U.S. as one of the finest retailers in business brings the respect and business acumen we look for in new members to the group.”
B&H spokesman Henry Posner said his team is “extremely excited about joining this prestigious group,” and anticipated “new and stronger industry partnerships” by adding his company’s buying power to ProSource.
B&H joins the PRO wing of ProSource, comprised of the group’s largest dealers. The addition fills a geographic and volume void left by the closure of former member J&R Music & Computer World in April; the downsizing of New Jersey-based Electronics Expo; and the shutting in 2011 of Sixth Ave. Electronics, which operated 19 stores across four states at its peak.
Jointly led by co-president and chief business officer Jim Ristow, ProSource boasts some 500 retail and custom integrator members and more than $4 billion in sales.
It is a division of the $13 billion BrandSource buying and merchandising group for independent CE, appliance and home-furnishings dealers.
