• About our Company
• Our History
• Through the Years - Store Openings
• Pioneers in Refrigeration & Air Conditioning

• Our Values & Commitment to Quality
• Mission Statement
• Value Added Services

Gustave A. Larson Company is the Midwest and Mountain States leading wholesale distributor of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration (HVACR) equipment, parts, & supplies. Our business philosophy is to focus on serving the needs of our customers, with a value-added, professional and enthusiastic attitude. We have 350 team members who serve our customers in thirteen Midwest and Moutain states through our 44 locations.

Gustave A. Larson Company represents products from over 440 different leading industry manufacturers in the areas of commercial refrigeration, residential and commercial HVAC, food service, and pressure/temperature controls. We offer a full line of equipment, controls, supplies and replacement parts.

Each of our conveniently located branches carries an extensive inventory of equipment and replacement parts to serve our local customer’s needs. We provide industry leading customer service levels supported with $40 million of inventory throughout our network of distribution centers and branches. Our state-of-the-art computer system links all branches on a real-time basis. Combined with our in-house truck fleet, we replenish inventory to each branch on an overnight basis. With over 50,000 SKUs in stock, we can access all of your HVACR needs, and even those hard-to-find items.

We are proud to say our 350 team members are our greatest asset -- from our field sales team to our corporate support team. Our people are the most professional and service-oriented in the industry, and provide solutions to our customer’s needs with genuine, enthusiastic service. Our sales teams are focused on helping our customers to trouble shoot system issues and answer their technical questions. Each person on our sales team is required to have a HVACR technical college degree or the equivalent industry experience. Our combination of a friendly, professional, and technically competent team positions us best to help our customers meet their individual job requirements. And our commitment doesn’t stop there. We are at the forefront when it comes to helping our customers learn about the changing requirements of technology in our industry. Each of our locations offers educational programs throughout the year, ranging from troubleshooting service issues to teaching our customers how to improve their selling skills and profitability

Come visit us in person, on the phone, or on the web, and experience the Larson Difference!

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The Gustave A. Larson Company was founded in Madison, Wisconsin in 1936 as a supplier to the refrigeration trade. Gus Larson immigrated alone at the age of 16 from his home in Gothenburg, Sweden in the early 1900s. While working as a refrigeration mechanic in Chicago, he saw the need for local refrigeration parts depots. He founded the Gustave A. Larson Company as a refrigeration parts jobber in 1936 at a small store front in Madison, Wisconsin. As the Company flourished, he quickly opened up branches throughout the State of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Appleton, Green Bay, Wausau, and Eau Claire, and Rockford, Illinois. By the early 1960s, he was operating 20 locations in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Florida.

Still family owned and operated, we have grown to be the Midwest’s leading wholesale distributor of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) equipment, parts and supplies. The Company now has 44 locations serve customers in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kentucky.

Each of our conveniently located branches carries an extensive inventory of equipment and replacement parts to serve our local customer’s needs. We provide industry leading customer service levels supported with our $40 million inventory throughout our network of distribution centers and branches. Our state-of-the-art computer system links all branches on a real-time basis. Combined with our in-house truck fleet, we replenish inventory to each branch on an overnight basis. With over 50,000 SKUs in stock, we can access all of your HVACR needs, and even those hard-to-find items.

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My father, Gustave A. Larson, and those men who started with him in 1936 were true pioneers in both refrigeration and distribution. They were aware of the rapid growth in the refrigeration and air conditioning field, and they saw what problems contractors had in getting their necessary parts and supplies. By setting up a business to stock locally these items, they "zeroed-in" on a tremendous need for an industry. In the marketing terms of today, "they found a need and filled it".

When reading an article in the April 24, 1940 issue of "Air Conditioning and Refrigeration News", featuring Gustave A. Larson Company, I noticed that success was attributed to members of an organization who were committed to technical competence, responsive to customers’ needs, friendly, willing to work hard, active in the industry and active in the community. Today, I couldn’t find a better list to follow for success, and I find that dedication to these same goals is exactly what makes us a successful organization now.

Gus Larson believed in the dignity of hard work and the complete integrity of his employees at all times. Our philosophy today still hangs on his basis tenets whereby positive thinking, the basic dignity of humans, the quest for education, and a contribution to common objectives are what tie this organization together.

This website is dedicated to Gustave A. Larson and to the early pioneers of our industry.

Karl G. Larson
Chairman of the Board

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