OSHKOSH, Wis. — Commercial laundry equipment manufacturer Girbau North America (GNA) recently recognized several distributors for outstanding sales and service during 2020.
Fowler Laundry Solutions, Union, N.J., received the Vended Laundry and Multi-Housing Distributor of the Year awards; Sunshine Sales, Glendale, Ariz., earned the On-Premise Laundry Distributor of the Year honor; and Laundry Systems of Tennessee, Sevierville, Tenn., was the Girbau Industrial Distributor of the Year Award. Lavanett, in St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada, received the Canadian Distributor of the Year award.
Fowler is among the Mid-Atlantic’s largest laundry equipment distributors and serves the vended, multi-housing, on-premise and industrial markets. Led by Doug Fowler and founded in 1952, the full-service, multi-generational company employs 70 team members focused on unsurpassed customer service.
“GNA enjoys a longstanding and historical relationship with Fowler,” says Joel Jorgensen, GNA vice president of sales. “During the challenging year of 2020, the Fowler team exhibited their dominance as an outstanding vended and multi-housing partner. We thank them for their years of excellent representation of GNA products.”
Owned and operated by Bob Ropp since 1972, Sunshine Sales is a full-service vended and on-premise laundry equipment distributor serving Arizona and New Mexico. The company works to design and equip on-premise laundries for greater productivity and lower labor and utility costs, serving hotels, resorts, vet clinics, fire departments and other clients.
“Sunshine Sales is one of our longest standing distributors, having represented GNA brands since 1995,” says Jorgensen. “That partnership has always resulted in amazing results, especially in the difficult year of 2020. We thank the Sunshine Sales team for their customer-first approach and outstanding efforts.”
Laundry Systems, led by President Jeff Large, received its third Girbau Industrial (GI) Distributor of the Year award for outstanding sales and service performance within the industrial laundry market. The company specializes in outfitting laundries within the hospitality market of cabin rentals and hotels/motels.
“We began representing the GI brand 11 years ago,” says Large, “which allowed us to enter new markets and transfer from small on-premise laundries to the next level of automation. It was a perfect fit.”
Since then, the Laundry Systems team has not only worked to understand and capitalize on the brand, according to Jorgensen, but offered unmatched customer service along the way. “Because of that effort, they’ve capitalized on an amazing volume of opportunities with ... GI automated laundry solutions,” he says. “We are very thankful for their partnership.”
Lavanett, led by Earl Eichen, received the Canadian Distributor of the Year award for exemplary performance in on-premise, vended, textile care and industrial laundry markets within Quebec. Established in 1996, Lavanett employs 20 team members.
“Earl and the Lavanett team are well known for their expertise in both laundry and textile care,” says Jorgensen. “They delivered outstanding sales in 2020, which is a reflection of their team approach and customer care within these industries. GNA greatly appreciates their efforts.”
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