Van Nuys, Calif. — November 19, 2008 — As part of the grand celebration for the re-opening of its Houston branch, AVAD LLC, North America’s leading distributor of custom home electronics, will donate a portion of the proceeds from the up-coming Houston Vend-O-Palooza to the Bush Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund. The Houston Vend-O-Palooza, scheduled for Thursday, November 20, marks the opening of AVAD’s completely redesigned Houston branch, which was temporarily closed in September due to Hurricane Ike.
“We are happy to have the opportunity to assist the many individuals, families and businesses who, like AVAD’s Houston branch, were affected by Hurricane Ike,” said Wally Whinna, executive vice president of marketing for AVAD. “With greatly improved AVAD Experience Centers, training facilities and customer service areas, the redesigned Houston branch will provide local Houston dealers with a valuable resource center for rebuilding their businesses which may have been impacted by the storm.”
AVAD’s Houston branch was shut down as a result of damage caused by Hurricane Ike, a Category Four storm which devastated parts of the United States Gulf Coast. During the temporary closure AVAD took the opportunity to completely redesign its Houston branch, making the facility effective and efficient to serve its customers.
Dealers in and around the Houston area will benefit from new streamlined will-call areas, upgraded training facilities, a professional-grade home theater system set-up and completely redesigned AVAD Experience Centers. The new Experience Centers will feature key elements in AVAD’s Integration Partner program, providing dealers a resource for marketing and selling complete custom home electronic solutions to their clients. Additionally, dealers will have the luxury of scheduling appointments to utilize the AVAD home theater and Experience Center as a showroom for their prospective customers.
AVAD dealers will have the opportunity to experience the redesigned Houston branch at Vend-O-Palooza. Held at local AVAD branches, Vend-O-Palooza helps connect area dealers with leading manufacturers in an interactive forum. Vend-O-Palooza offers attendees an opportunity to meet directly with manufacturers, demo new products, participate in raffles and giveaways and purchase products at special pricing. Additionally, dealers are able to attend workshops designed to help them successfully manage and grow their businesses.
For more information on the Bush Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund visit http://www.bushclintoncoastalfund.org/.
Talking Points
• AVAD has announced the grand re-opening of its Houston branch, which was temporarily closed in September due to Hurricane Ike.
• As part of the re-opening, AVAD will donate a portion of the proceeds from the up-coming Houston Vend-O-Palooza to the Bush Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund.
• The Houston Vend-O-Palooza will be held Thursday, November 20.
• AVAD’s redesigned Houston branch features streamlined will-call areas, upgraded training facilities, a professional-grade home theater system set-up and new AVAD Experience Centers.
About AVAD LLC
AVAD LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ingram Micro Inc., is the most complete home integration solutions provider in North America. Offering customers the most trusted brands, AVAD stocks complete systems solutions for home theater, lighting controls, distributed audio/video, central vacuum and more. Further, the company is dedicated to dealer education, training and skill advancement, as evidenced by AVAD University’s over 450 online and classroom continuing education classes held each year. AVAD ensures just-in-time delivery from each of its 37 US locations and new Toronto and Calgary facilities in Canada.
Product lines that AVAD distributes and supports include: APC, Aprilaire, Artison, Atlantic Technology, Belden, Bose, Carlon ChannelPlus, Chief, H-P Products/Dirt Devil, Draper, Dymo/RhinoPRO, Escient, Exceptional Innovation/Life|ware, Gefen, Global Cache, Goo Systems-Visual Reality, Inc., Harman Kardon, InFocus ScreenPlay, iPort, ITC, JDSU, JVC Professional Products Company, Key Digital, Labor Saving Devices, Lutron, Marantz, Middle Atlantic Products, Inc., Midlite, MuxLab, NetStreams, Niles Audio, OmniMount, Onkyo, OnQ Technologies, OpenHouse, Optoma, Panamax, Panasonic Phones, Pantel, Peerless, Philips Pronto, Polk Audio, PROconnect, ProFlex, RepairMaster, RTI, Rockustics, Samsung, Satellite USA, Sharp, SharpVision, Terk, Toshiba, Universal Remote Control, Velodyne and more.
In July 2005, AVAD was acquired by Ingram Micro Inc., making its parent company the leading distributor for solution providers and custom integrators serving the fast-growing consumer electronics and home automation markets in the United States.
For more information about AVAD, visit www.avad.com.
Company Contact:
Wally Whinna, Executive Vice President of Marketing
AVAD
Tel: 847-434-0888 x1101
Email: wally.whinna@avad.com
Media Contact:
Coleen Sterns Leith, President
Marketing Matters
Tel: 954-925-1511
Email: coleen@marketingmatters.net
