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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING RUSSO POWER EQUIPMENT AS IT CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN BUSINESS
WHEREAS, since its modest beginnings on the Northwest Side of Chicago in 1970, Russo Power Equipment has evolved from a neighborhood hardware store to the premier power equipment and landscape supply dealer in the Midwest; and
WHEREAS, Russo Power Equipment started as Russo Ace Hardware, a small hardware store on Montrose Avenue in Chicago’s Northwest Side; and
WHEREAS, founded by the late Frank Russo Sr. in 1970, a first-generation Italian immigrant, the hardware store for many years was run by Frank Sr., his wife Armanda, and their three sons Ralph, Frank Jr., and Tony; and
WHEREAS, for the next decade or so, the store was run primarily by the Russo brothers. It is during this time that they were labeled by a large franchise as "destined to fail"; and
WHEREAS, unintimidated, Russo Power Equipment continued to add more lines of business, more locations, and more employees; and
WHEREAS, in 1998, the first Russo Power Equipment location opened on Dakin Avenue in Dunning Square on Chicago's Northwest Side, and in 2000, RussoPower.com was launched; and
WHEREAS, Russo Power relocated in 2005 to its current headquarters in Schiller Park, featuring a 28,000 square-foot showroom; and
WHEREAS, Russo Power Equipment has continued to expand since that time to Naperville, Lemont, Hainesville, Frankfort, and other sites throughout the area; and
WHEREAS, Russo Power is an environmentally friendly business, recycling more than 18,000 pounds of metal; 15,000 pounds of paper; 7,000 pounds of plastic; and 7,000 pounds of mixed materials every year; and
WHEREAS, today Russo has five commercial retail locations, three bulk road salt supply sites, and an e-commerce fulfillment center, employing roughly 250 employees with plans to expand its operations further; and
WHEREAS, being a local, family-owned-and-operated business, Russo Power Equipment has taken pride in personally getting to know its customers, large and small, to provide the unparalleled service that has come to be expected over the past fifty years.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does hereby congratulate Russo Power Equipment for its fifty years in business; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this resolution be tendered to Russo Power Equipment as token of our appreciation of its long history.
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