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George Connelly and his wife Nora founded Saint Louis Electric Supply in the late 1940's. They ran a "hot shot" electrical supply delivery business. George would get an order and hop into his pickup truck to deliver the supplies to electricians who needed material fast to their job site; they boasted quick, reliable service. They ran St. Louis Electric Supply out of their basement and garage for over twenty years. In 1967, George had a stroke and made the difficult decision to put his business up for sale. John Frisella, Sr. was an electrical contractor and encouraged his son, Jim Frisella, and his brother-in-law, Charlie Gagnepain, to purchase St. Louis Electrical Supply from George in 1967. With a loan from John Frisella, Sr., Jim and Charlie bought the business and Metro Electric Supply was born.
In 1971, Jim's bother Bill Frisella joined forces and helped build the customer base and opened satellite locations. Originally, METRO was strictly an electrical supply house but in 1978, METRO purchased an electrical distributor that also had a small 2500 square foot lighting showroom. This was the beginning of METRO Lighting. When Charlie and Jim later decided to call it quits, in 1985 and 1999, respectively, Bill purchased their shares and owned METRO until 2021 when he sold his shares to Graybar Electric, keeping Metro a St. Louis-owned and operated company.
METRO's commitment to the environment is a serious one, and has been ahead of the curve in this area by educating our employees about energy efficient lighting and controls. The staff is very knowledgeable when it comes to CFL and LED products. METRO has won the Department of Energy and EPA's national Energy Star Award for "Excellence in Retailing" 8 times; in addition, in 2015 METRO was honored with an Energy Star Partner of the Year Award – Climate Communicator.
