Allied Trade Group, Inc. acquires The Lighting Company

Allied Trade Group, Inc., operators of Lighting Universe retail lighting showrooms, as well as the Lightinguniverse.com and Fixtureuniverse.com websites, is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Lighting Company, the leading retailer of decorative and commercial lighting in the Tri-Cities, Washington region.

September 29, 2004 -- Allied Trade Group, Inc., operators of Lighting Universe retail lighting showrooms, as well as the Lightinguniverse.com and Fixtureuniverse.com websites, is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Lighting Company, the leading retailer of decorative and commercial lighting in the Tri-Cities, Washington region. The name of the business will continue to be The Lighting Company, and generally the focus of the business will remain unchanged. However, the new company will have new capabilities.

"We are immensely proud of this marriage of two lighting industry leaders. Since founding the Lighting Company over twelve years ago, Bob and Judy Spaulding have operated The Lighting Company based on the principles of providing customers with greater product selection and superior service. By giving The Lighting Companys customers access to hundreds of thousands of lighting products from over 250 suppliers and expanding customer service options through LightingUniverse.com, we believe the new combination will further strengthen The Lighting Companys leadership in the Tri-Cities and the surrounding region," said Gary Rubens, President and CEO of Allied Trade Group.

Rubens also said, "We welcome The Lighting Company into the Allied Trade Group family. Bob Spaulding will continue as the Regional Sales Manager for Allied Trade Group, and Kirtis Gattis, Kandice Suriano and Tera Garsjo will continue to work directly with customers in our Builder Sales Division and in our lighting showroom."

The Lighting Company will continue in its current location on Clearwater Avenue in Kennewick for the foreseeable future, but most of the back-office work of purchasing, fulfillment and accounting will be centralized in the Allied Trade Group headquarters in Kirkland, Washington.

About Allied Trade Group
Established in 1999, Allied Trade Group, Inc. launched LightingUniverse.com and FixtureUniverse.com in an effort to meet the lighting and plumbing needs of interior designers, architects, builders, homeowners and lighting specifiers online. LightingUniverse.com and FixtureUniverse.com have positioned themselves as the leaders in product selection with more than 450,000 products available from over 200 manufacturers.

Allied Trade Groups expansion into lighting showrooms is based on its belief in the importance of the personal service that is available from trained lighting professionals in the showrooms, and that customer service, enhanced by state-of-the-art e-commerce capabilities, is an important competitive advantage in the marketplace.

For More Information, Contact Russell Murphy, VP of Corporate Development, 425.814.2515, extension 222 or by email at e-mail protected from spam bots

# # #