Skip Ignaczak, center, accepts his award from fellow Hall of Famer Ron Bemis, left, and BrandSource president Tom Bennett.
Enters BrandSource’s hallowed Hall of Fame, Class of ’21
By Andy Kriege, YSN
After a one-year hiatus, the AVB/BrandSource Hall of Fame induction ceremony made a comeback at the 2021 Convention last August in Nashville.
First introduced three years ago, the honor is bestowed on those who have demonstrated an outstanding lifetime of service to the retail industry. As AVB CEO Jim Ristow explained, “We want to recognize individuals who have been great stewards of the industry, of their brands and of BrandSource. These are people who embody the American dream and will leave a very meaningful mark.”
The 2021 Hall of Fame class included four exceptional people who were selected by the AVB/BrandSource board of directors and the executive team for their lifetime of achievement and commitment to independent retail.
George “Skip” Ignaczak was among this year’s inductees honored at the Convention in Nashville. He joins a select fraternity of groundbreaking retail pioneers enshrined on a newly revealed Wall of Fame that includes all prior inductees from previous years.
Skip began his retail journey in the 1950s, sweeping floors at Duggan’s Appliance, his family’s Erie, Pa., business. He took over the reins of the store in 1978 after his father passed and continued to run the business for the next 40 years until his retirement, when Duggan’s was sold to Don’s Appliances. The store is still doing great under Don’s, and many of the Ignaczaks’ former employees still work there.
Skip’s service to AVB/BrandSource began with a seat on the Tri-State Region board. He would later go on to join the group’s National Board of Directors, a position he held for decades. All told, he dutifully served the organization for more than 30 years before retiring three years ago.
Skip played an integral role in the formation AVB Finance, the revolutionary first-of-its-kind, in-house inventory finance company that later became BrandSource Financial (BSF). He continues to serve on the management team of BSF, providing oversight for the hugely successful service he helped launch.
“The friendships I have made over the years in this group are priceless,” he recounted at his Hall of Fame induction. “I can and do travel the country and call on many of them to this day. While I am humbled to be selected for this award, I was just a part of a great team doing some really great things.”
Congratulations Skip Ignaczak and the entire class of 2021!
BrandSource, a unit of YSN publisher AVB Inc., is a nationwide buying group for independent appliance, furniture, mattress, and CE dealers.
