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A family business. Forty years of getting it right.
Lite Source started in Louisville, KY in 1985 with a very specific problem to solve: doctors and hospitals needed replacement light bulbs for their medical equipment, and finding the right one was harder than it should have been. Our founder built a mail-order catalog by hand. This was before the internet, before affordable digital cameras, before any of the design tools we take for granted today. Each bulb was rendered as a hand-drawn, to-scale pixel illustration so that a customer could hold the page next to their equipment, compare the shape, and order with confidence.For over a decade, those hand-drawn illustrations were the standard. In 1999, we took the next step: professional photography. Photographing small, intricate glass medical parts accurately and to scale was no simple task given the technology of the time, but we did it because our customers needed to be certain they were ordering the right part. That catalog became one of the most sought-after resources in the industry, and by 2012 our catalog had grown to reflect everything our customers were actually asking for.
Forty years of knowing our customers well enough to give them exactly what they need.
Before 1999
Hand-drawn, to scale
Every bulb rendered pixel by pixel
so customers could compare shape and size before ordering
1999
Professional photography
Intricate glass medical parts
photographed to exact scale, a new standard for the industry
2012
More than bulbs
Expanded into examination room
supplies, batteries, recording paper, and clinical products
Growing up in the business
Allie Blanford grew up inside that business. As a child she sat in front of the television stuffing envelopes for mailings. She walked to the office after school to help file. As a teenager she worked summers in the warehouse alongside friends who still talk about it. She fell in love with the technology behind the catalog and the graphic design work that turned careful measurements into the illustrations customers trusted. When desktop publishing tools arrived and changed what was possible, she was the one figuring out how to use them.She watched her mother build something from nothing: a business that survived by being genuinely useful to the people it served, by knowing its products better than anyone else, and by treating every customer like someone worth taking care of.
Allie and her mother, Louisville, circa 1985,
the year Lite Source was founded
That is not something you learn
in a business class. It is something you absorb over a
lifetime.
In August 2019, Allie acquired
Lite Source and became its owner. The transition was not a
reinvention. It was a continuation of the same values, the same
commitment to knowing the products, the same belief that the
most important thing a distributor can offer is accuracy and
reliability.
More than bulbs
Lite Source has always grown by listening. When customers who called about bulbs started asking about batteries, we added batteries. When they needed recording paper, we added that too. Examination room supplies. Post-operative products. Hand-held diagnostic instrumentation. Infection prevention. Each category came in the same way: a customer called and asked if we carried something, and we went and found it.Today Lite Source is a full-service authorized distributor for the clinical examination room and beyond. We serve ophthalmology, optometry, dentistry, ear-nose-and-throat, dermatology, and veterinary practices across the United States. Our catalog includes replacement bulbs, batteries, and recording paper for hundreds of instruments; tonometer tips and prisms; otoscope specula; exam and procedure supplies; post-operative products; wound care; infection prevention; sharps; and general office and clinical supplies. If it belongs in an examination room, there is a good chance we carry it.
We stock both OEM parts sourced directly from equipment manufacturers and carefully selected equivalents that meet the same specifications at a lower cost. We are transparent about which is which because we believe an informed buyer makes a better decision for their practice.
How we operate
In August 2019, Allie acquired Lite Source and became its owner. The transition was not a reinvention; it was a continuation. The same values, the same commitment to knowing the products, the same belief that the most important thing a distributor can offer is accuracy and reliability. Under her leadership the company has invested in the technology and infrastructure to make ordering faster and easier, while holding onto the things that have always set Lite Source apart.When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, Lite Source did what it has always done: it listened to what customers needed. Infection prevention products had become nearly impossible to source, and practices that needed to stay open for their patients needed a supplier they could trust to find them. We pivoted quickly to help fill that gap, and infection prevention has been a permanent part of our catalog ever since.
At the center of everything is our team. Real people answer our phones. People who know the catalog, understand the equipment, and will take as much time as needed to make sure you get the right product. We have been doing this long enough to know that a wrong part is never just a wrong part. It is a return, a delay, and sometimes a cancelled appointment. Getting it right the first time is the whole point.
Who we are today and where we are going
Lite Source is a Women's Business Enterprise certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). We have been in Louisville, KY for over 40 years and have no intention of going anywhere. A second-generation family business built on relationships and expertise, and with the next generation already in the picture, there is a lot of road ahead.We are proud of what we have built and genuinely grateful for the customers who have trusted us, some of them for decades and some of them since they were residents in the very practices they now run. If you have a question about a product, need help tracking down a part for equipment that has been in service for thirty years, or just want to know whether we carry something, call us at 800-523-0860 or use the chat on our site. We are always happy to help.
A family business. Forty years of getting it right.
Lite Source started in Louisville, KY in 1985 with a very specific problem to solve: doctors and hospitals needed replacement light bulbs for their medical equipment, and finding the right one was harder than it should have been. Our founder built a mail-order catalog by hand. This was before the internet, before affordable digital cameras, before any of the design tools we take for granted today. Each bulb was rendered as a hand-drawn, to-scale pixel illustration so that a customer could hold the page next to their equipment, compare the shape, and order with confidence.For over a decade, those hand-drawn illustrations were the standard. In 1999, we took the next step: professional photography. Photographing small, intricate glass medical parts accurately and to scale was no simple task given the technology of the time, but we did it because our customers needed to be certain they were ordering the right part. That catalog became one of the most sought-after resources in the industry, and by 2012 our catalog had grown to reflect everything our customers were actually asking for.
Forty years of knowing our customers well enough to give them exactly what they need.
Before 1999
Hand-drawn, to scale
Every bulb rendered pixel by pixel
so customers could compare shape and size before ordering
1999
Professional photography
Intricate glass medical parts
photographed to exact scale, a new standard for the industry
2012
More than bulbs
Expanded into examination room
supplies, batteries, recording paper, and clinical products
Growing up in the business
Allie Blanford grew up inside that business. As a child she sat in front of the television stuffing envelopes for mailings. She walked to the office after school to help file. As a teenager she worked summers in the warehouse alongside friends who still talk about it. She fell in love with the technology behind the catalog and the graphic design work that turned careful measurements into the illustrations customers trusted. When desktop publishing tools arrived and changed what was possible, she was the one figuring out how to use them.She watched her mother build something from nothing: a business that survived by being genuinely useful to the people it served, by knowing its products better than anyone else, and by treating every customer like someone worth taking care of.
Allie and her mother, Louisville, circa 1985,
the year Lite Source was founded
That is not something you learn
in a business class. It is something you absorb over a
lifetime.
In August 2019, Allie acquired
Lite Source and became its owner. The transition was not a
reinvention. It was a continuation of the same values, the same
commitment to knowing the products, the same belief that the
most important thing a distributor can offer is accuracy and
reliability.
More than bulbs
Lite Source has always grown by listening. When customers who called about bulbs started asking about batteries, we added batteries. When they needed recording paper, we added that too. Examination room supplies. Post-operative products. Hand-held diagnostic instrumentation. Infection prevention. Each category came in the same way: a customer called and asked if we carried something, and we went and found it.Today Lite Source is a full-service authorized distributor for the clinical examination room and beyond. We serve ophthalmology, optometry, dentistry, ear-nose-and-throat, dermatology, and veterinary practices across the United States. Our catalog includes replacement bulbs, batteries, and recording paper for hundreds of instruments; tonometer tips and prisms; otoscope specula; exam and procedure supplies; post-operative products; wound care; infection prevention; sharps; and general office and clinical supplies. If it belongs in an examination room, there is a good chance we carry it.
We stock both OEM parts sourced directly from equipment manufacturers and carefully selected equivalents that meet the same specifications at a lower cost. We are transparent about which is which because we believe an informed buyer makes a better decision for their practice.
How we operate
In August 2019, Allie acquired Lite Source and became its owner. The transition was not a reinvention; it was a continuation. The same values, the same commitment to knowing the products, the same belief that the most important thing a distributor can offer is accuracy and reliability. Under her leadership the company has invested in the technology and infrastructure to make ordering faster and easier, while holding onto the things that have always set Lite Source apart.When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, Lite Source did what it has always done: it listened to what customers needed. Infection prevention products had become nearly impossible to source, and practices that needed to stay open for their patients needed a supplier they could trust to find them. We pivoted quickly to help fill that gap, and infection prevention has been a permanent part of our catalog ever since.
At the center of everything is our team. Real people answer our phones. People who know the catalog, understand the equipment, and will take as much time as needed to make sure you get the right product. We have been doing this long enough to know that a wrong part is never just a wrong part. It is a return, a delay, and sometimes a cancelled appointment. Getting it right the first time is the whole point.
Who we are today and where we are going
Lite Source is a Women's Business Enterprise certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). We have been in Louisville, KY for over 40 years and have no intention of going anywhere. A second-generation family business built on relationships and expertise, and with the next generation already in the picture, there is a lot of road ahead.We are proud of what we have built and genuinely grateful for the customers who have trusted us, some of them for decades and some of them since they were residents in the very practices they now run. If you have a question about a product, need help tracking down a part for equipment that has been in service for thirty years, or just want to know whether we carry something, call us at 800-523-0860 or use the chat on our site. We are always happy to help.