A Look Back: Celebrating 20 Years
Marking our 20th year anniversary, PDA has decided to take a journey back in time. Over the next few months, we’ll be posting our favorite memories from the past on our blog.
Join us as we share our history, personality and stories with you. We’ll resurrect good times shared with the Charleston community.
Here’s the first look at our beginnings when we opened our doors in 1991…
Our first warehouse was humble (to say the least) – it was a little garage on Ashley River Road. The rent was $275 a month, no air conditioning, no insulation, and very hot in the summers. It’s still there today, and every time I drive by it, I smile and remember our humble beginnings.
When we started out, we were just a lighting company. We stored our “extensive” inventory of 12 par 46s, four cheap strobe lights, a fog machine and tree pack dimmers in our warehouse. We had a desk that I used in high school – world’s smallest (you could barely get a chair under it) and we even had a cellular phone. It was big and about as heavy as a brick, but it was a start.
Our small team made it work, and moved out in about a year into our second home – a “real office warehouse” of about 900 square feet, again on Ashley River Road. Now, we’ve grown. We’re in our fourth location (15,000 sq ft) and have traded in the school desk for offices, added a few things like – high-tech LED lighting, moving lights, concert sound, video production, staging and more.
A lot has changed since then, but our commitment, enthusiasm and love of events has remained the same.
We’ll hope that you’ll continue along with us on our trip down memory lane. Hold on tight – there’s a lot more to come.
-Jeff Nickles
PDA President