1973 - 1979

Humble Beginnings

Our story began on April 15, 1973 when Tropic Supply was incorporated by our fearless leader, Charles F. Del Vecchio. The doors of our very first resource center opened just a few months later at a modest warehouse in North Miami at the Sunshine State Industrial Park. We initially started with a team of three, but quickly grew to seven and then doubled our warehouse space thanks to the support of friends and family. Charles’ business savvy and experience in both wholesale distribution and refrigeration drove the business forward rapidly, and it wasn’t long before we opened two additional stores - one in north Fort Lauderdale in 1975 and another in south Miami in 1976.

For our first twelve years, we focused exclusively on the sale of refrigeration equipment and supplies. Our initial foray into the world of air conditioning did not happen until the mid 80s (click on the 1980s decade for that story!).

We invite you to browse our photo album for a few glimpses into our first decade on the books. We have included images of our team and locations and have shared documentation of our early successes.

INTERESTING FACT: All of our resource centers are associated with a “T” number. This “T” number corresponds to the order in which each location was opened. "T-1” was our first store, “T-2” our second, etc. We do not have a T-13 location for the same reason many high rises do not have a 13th floor.

1980 - 1989

Southeast Expansion

Tropic Supply continued to expand throughout southeast Florida in the 1980s. We opened four additional locations in South Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce and Mid-Miami. We also started an export department to serve the growing refrigeration needs of the Caribbean islands and South and Central America. As our photo gallery will demonstrate, Tropic Supply was, and continues to be, an adamant supporter of industry associations that are committed to developing and standing by the trades. Since our inception, we have worked tirelessly to promote partnership between contractors, distribution and manufacturing. This partnership approach has not only contributed significantly to our own success, but that of our contractor customers and manufacturing suppliers as well.

INTERESTING FACT: From 1984 through the early 90s, Tropic Supply was a sub-distributor for the Ruud air conditioning line. We became the primary distributor in 2008 for the entire state of Florida.

1990 - 1999

Tropic Goes West

Charles’ son Chuck started learning the business at the young age of 12, when he started in the warehouse building boxes to repackage compressors. Over the years, he worked in all areas of the company, including counter sales, driving and purchasing. Chuck joined the business full-time in 1992, shortly after graduating from Tulane University. While he would not become President until 2007, he began to play an instrumental role in Tropic’s growth. Tropic expanded westward in the 90s, opening locations in Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral and Port Charlotte. An additional location was also opened in Delray Beach, bringing the total number of Tropic resource centers to twelve.

Tropic Supply enjoyed tremendous sales success in this decade…a testament of our successful relationships with our customers, supplier partners and team members. We are proud to share some of our achievements in our photo gallery.

2000 - 2009

Air Conditioning Debut

Tropic Supply opened an additional five locations between 2000 and 2010 – Sarasota in 2001, East Tampa in 2004, West Tampa in 2006, Orlando in 2007 and Jacksonville in 2008. Our growth would remain steady and consistent from the 90s through present day, enabling us to open additional resource centers at a rate of five per decade.

The first decade in the 2000s was significant, as it marked our official entry into the air conditioning industry. In 2008, Tropic Supply took on the Ruud residential and commercial air conditioning lines in Florida. While we were a sub-distributor of the brand during the 1980s, we did not become the primary distributor until 2008. Having supported the highly technical and demanding needs of the refrigeration industry for the previous three decades, we were able to bring the HVAC industry a higher and more flexible level of counter support…which remains one of our primary competitive advantages today. The industry responded in force, and less than a decade later, Tropic Supply would be recognized as one of the top Ruud distributors nationwide.

Our continued support and service to the HVAC/R industry is recounted in our pictorial slide show. We believe it is our privilege as well as our duty to celebrate those coming into the industry via one of the industry’s apprenticeship programs, serve on the board of our local associations, and sponsor opportunities to foster a sense of community between wholesalers, suppliers and contractors.

2010 - 2019

Northern Exposure

In the 2010s, Tropic Supply not only expanded northward, but also moved its home office from its original location in North Miami to Sunrise. Four additional resource centers were added to the map: Daytona Beach (2010), Tallahassee (2015), Ocala (2017) and St. Petersburg (2018). Sales growth increased exponentially, as evidenced by the numerous awards we received from our equipment suppliers during this time period (see slide show). Our team grew past the 250 mark and our total number of locations topped 22.

We celebrated our 45th anniversary in April of 2018, and cannot wait to see what the next 45 years will bring.

Coming Soon!