Windy City Lighting: A True, Proud Chicagoland Family Business

The Trossman family and lighting in the Windy City are synonymous. In 1950, my grandfather, Benjamin, moved from Philadelphia to Chicago to open a lighting company called Esty Manufacturing. Through their relationship with Montgomery Ward, Esty provided affordable light fixtures to middle-income families across America. My father, Ken, took over Esty’s operations in 1981, changed its focus, and became a pioneer in the manufacturing of energy-saving CFL lighting for the hotel/motel industry.

By the late 1980’s almost all manufacturing of this kind moved overseas. I joined my father in 1993 as we changed our business model from manufacturing to distribution and changed the company name to Bulbs! Bulbs! Bulbs! and eventually to Windy City Lighting.

Windy City Lighting started off strictly as a seller of replacement light bulbs but has now evolved to become a full-service energy savings lighting consulting firm. We work primarily with local utilities to procure incentives and rebates to make it affordable for small businesses to become energy efficient.

- Merrick Trossman