Nearly 80 Years of Relentlessly
Serving Customers
From our origins in a small brick building in downtown Cleveland, RSC has been proudly serving our customers with the highest quality products and services for nearly 80 years. We’re committed to providing you with the resources you need to ensure that your business operates smoothly and sustainably. From fast and reliable service to world class training, sales and marketing support and customer service, RSC has defined the WholeServer philosophy.
Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to earn the loyalty of thousands of business partners. We take great pride in understanding the unique needs of your individual business, and work to create a dependable, available and rewarding partnership that will help your business grow. At RSC, we don’t just meet expectations; we exceed them.
Relentlessly Improving Lives, In Every Degree
At RSC, we exist to improve lives and communities. We do this by sourcing, specifying, distributing, and supporting HVAC/R products and solutions across Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
How do we succeed?
-Make it easy for our customers to do business with us
-Help our customers grow
-Eliminate waste and benefit from our size
-Nurture a high performing culture
-Invest responsibly in our future
We believe in…
Teamwork. We are one team; we help each other grow and succeed.
Simplicity. We are focused; we passionately resist complexity.
Growth. We are entrepreneurial; we are driven to generate opportunities.
Doing What’s Right. We are ethical; we are uncompromising in how we act and behave.
RSC. Relentlessly Improving Lives, In Every Degree.
Leadership Team
Rhonda Wight – President and CEO
Bill Marx – Vice President of Sales
Doug Wight – Vice President of Warehousing, Distribution and Logistics
Richard Forkins – Vice President of Finance
David Bania – Vice President of Operations & Inside Sales
Craig Zinader – Carrier Brand Manager, Columbus General Manager
Want to work with us? Visit the RSC Career Page!
Our Origin Story
In 1945, Warren Farr Senior, established wholesale distribution sales at Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation, then a large installing and servicing refrigeration contractor. The very beginning of that family business, however, goes all the way back to E.W. Farr and the year 1921.
Prior to Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation, Warren Senior was no stranger to the world of mechanical refrigeration. He was introduced to this new and exciting technology by his father Earnest Wightman Farr (known as E.W. Farr). In 1921, E.W. Farr opened The Kelvinator Cleveland Company to sell appliances, including residential and commercial refrigerators.
These refrigerators replaced the “ice box” commonly used for food preservation. These early refrigerators were “split systems” (similar to today’s split system air conditioners) with the “refrigerator box” located in the kitchen and the compressor located in the basement.
In 1923, a Kelvinator refrigerator cost $750 which is roughly equivalent to $9,000 today! Undoubtedly, the reason that the business was located on Cleveland’s prosperous Euclid Avenue was to be close to “Millionaire’s Row” where Rockefeller, Carnegie and other barons of business maintained homes.
Warren Senior began his refrigeration career while working for his father at The Kelvinator Cleveland Company and attending the much-respected Kelvinator Refrigeration Service Training School.
After attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and after his intensive refrigeration service training, Warren Senior converted The Kelvinator Cleveland Company into Farr Refrigeration Services, which successfully grew and then relocated into expanded commercial space at 1127 Carnegie Avenue in downtown Cleveland. It was during this move that the company was renamed to Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation. From its early beginnings, Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation was founded on the principles of the highest possible customer service combined with the best efficiencies of the industry. The earliest known employee handbook provides the following mission statement for all employees:
“It is our job at Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation to render the highest type of service at the lowest possible price. Such a policy will make it possible for the Company to give its customers, employees, and stockholders the highest possible return.”
This is a philosophy that has been continuous throughout our history in our mission of “Service Speed, Expertise, and Relationships.” It didn’t take long for Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation to become one of the nation’s largest refrigeration installation and service contracting companies. An early company brochure proudly boasted completing over 15,000 service calls annually, traveling over 125,000 miles (equivalent to five times around the earth) each year, and providing a complete inventory of over 20,000 parts to 85 dealer partners.
In 1953, Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation had again outgrown its facilities and moved to 701 St. Clair Avenue in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. This new facility was designed to support the future company as Refrigeration Maintenance Corporation grew its wholesale distribution business with the addition of the Carrier® air conditioning product line. By 1961, the company had become 100% wholesale and was renamed Refrigeration Sales Corporation. The new facilities added significant warehousing space and a larger wholesale parts counter.
The 1980’s saw more growth for RSC, with new stores opening in Elyria, Canton, and Mentor. Additionally, the company expanded its footprint into the Columbus area. By the mid-2000’s, RSC had opened a new distribution center in Columbus, and the current central distribution center and corporate headquarters in Valley View.
RSC today is still primarily a wholesaler, though we’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings in a small brick building in downtown Cleveland. In early 2023, RSC was acquired by the Master Group, Canada’s largest independent HVAC/R Distributor. While RSC remains a locally operated company with a consistent leadership team, we’ve benefitted tremendously from the size and scale of our alignment with Master Group. Above all, RSC remains committed to relentlessly serving our customers, and to relentlessly improving lives, in every degree.
What it means to ‘Relentlessly Serve Customers’
Refrigeration Sales Corp. Defines “RELENTLESS” in very simple and straightforward terms: RELENTLESS: (adj.) [ ri-lent-lis ] Disciplined in Approach & Action, Never-Ceasing, Determined to Achieve, Be Sincere. Relentlessly Serving Customers
- Ownership: We own the customer interaction, follow-up and stay involved and proactively seek resolution.
- Sense of Urgency: We make meeting the customer expectation a priority, actively engage our fellow associates, and escalate issues when necessary.
- Passion: We care about what we are doing and we care about the customer that depends on us.
We will let no customer problem go undetected or unresolved. Each of us will take ownership for our actions and created customer responsiveness unequaled by our competition. We believe that it is not the customer’s responsibility to notify us of problems, but rather our responsibility to anticipate them. We will correct problem issues before they become an impediment to our customer’s success. RSC Employees are PROUD employees. P – be PASSIONATER – be RELENTLESSO – take OWNERSHIPU – demonstrate URGENCYD – be DISCIPLINED We are proud of the company we keep.We are proud of the work we do.We are proud to relentlessly serve our customers. WHY DO WE EXIST?To Serve Our CustomersHOW DO WE BEHAVE?RelentlesslyWHAT DO WE DO?Serve Our Customers by Any Means Necessary
Store Locations
AKRON
175 East South Street
Akron, OH 44311
Call / Text: (330) 762-9000
(877) 557-6467
CANTON
1635 Market Avenue, SW
Canton, OH 44707
Call / Text: (330) 456-2789
(877) 561-4138
PITTSBURGH
3180 Sassafras Way
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Call / Text: (412) 482-6969
(888) 772-4345
ELYRIA
189 Warden Avenue
Elyria, OH 44035
Call / Text: (440) 324-5853
MANSFIELD
1468 North Main St., Ste 102
Mansfield, OH 44903
Call / Text: (419) 524-7445
(888) 660-3835
MENTOR
8573 East Avenue
Mentor, OH 44060
Call / Text: (440) 255-1820
SANDUSKY
3904 Tiffin Avenue
Sandusky, OH 44870
Call / Text: (419) 627-0914
(877) 491-4328
YOUNGSTOWN
643 North Meridian Road
Youngstown, OH 44509
Call / Text: (330) 788-7084
(800) 624-4915
Distribution Centers
COLUMBUS
2571 Silver Drive
Columbus, OH 43211
Call / Text: (614) 299-2500
(800) 225-7389
VALLEY VIEW
9450 Allen Drive, Suite A
Valley View, OH 44125
Call / Text: (216) 525-8100
(866) 516-8100
We’re Here To Help!
(216) 525-8200
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