EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another in an occasional series of stories examining 50 years of Nashua business. Stories and multimedia pieces will focus on Milestones, Hidden Assets, and Economic Engines in the city’s business community.

MERRIMACK – A city branding campaign that has highlighted Greater Nashua’s status as a high-tech magnet makes companies such as PC Connection the model for southern New Hampshire’s business future.

“I think we’re pretty fortunate to have a company like PC Connection here within the Nashua business community,” said Chris Williams, president of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce “They’re a real fixture here.”

The Merrimack-based company, founded in 1982, sells computers and other IT equipment primarily to small- and medium-size businesses and consumers.

And like some of its publicly traded neighbors in New Hampshire, PC Connection, which went public in March 1998 under ticker PCCC, came from humble beginnings (not to mention a humble mascot; some might recall the PC Connection raccoon pictured with a keyboard over its shoulder, meant to symbolize the company’s “innovation,” “adaptability” and “tenacity”).

Co-founders Patricia Gallup and David Hall started the company with $8,000 of their savings.

What began with two employees – themselves – has grown to be a Fortune 1,000 company earning a net income of $28.8 million for its year ending Dec. 31, 2011, or $1.07 per share. Its revenue for the year was $2.1 billion – a 6.5 percent increase over the year before.

The company currently employs a workforce of more than 1,500, between sites in Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas and Ohio.

Most of them work here in the Granite State, since PC Connection opened its visible Route 101A corporate headquarters right across the Nashua line in Merrimack in 1998. It also maintains a sales office in Keene.

“PC Connection has invested in their people and in the community everywhere that it has been,” said then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in July 1998, joining Gallup for the property’s groundbreaking on Route 101A, according to The Telegraph’s coverage of the event.

Jay Minkarah, Merrimack’s community development director at the time, hailed PC Connection’s arrival as “the most significant redevelopment project ever undertaken in Merrimack,” as it renovated the shell of Post Road Plaza, referred to then as “Ghost Road Plaza” since a recession hit the strip mall in the 1990s.

“They have taken an economic blight and turned it into a bounty, and infused new life into this area of Merrimack,” Minkarah said.

Shaheen also congratulated Gallup for bringing in “high-quality, good-paying jobs” and for preserving New Hampshire’s “open space” and “quality of life.”

At the time, the company’s 550 workers were scheduled to relocate to the new 114,000-square-foot facility from its Milford home on Route 13 south.

Facing rapid growth, the move was meant to bring PC Connection closer to a larger pool of skilled workers, Gallup said.

According to The Telegraph story, a time capsule was placed inside the building – to be opened in 2098 – including memorabilia from PC Connection’s 16 years in business, newspapers with current events and technology used in 1998, including a Macintosh 128 computer.

Fast forward to 2012, and Williams still sees PC Connection’s location as leverage for luring similarly successful high-tech companies to the region.

“I feel that as the city brand goes forward and really focuses on the high-tech sector, we’ll see PC Connection really play a highly visible role when we point to good tech-related companies that are already operating and headquartered right here in the Nashua region,” Williams said.

Transitioning into the 21st century, PC Connection’s history is marked with several aggressive moves: in 1999, it purchased ComTeq Federal – now GovConnection Inc. – a Maryland-based company meant to expand and meet the computing needs of federal government agencies; in 2002, it was MoreDirect, a company providing medium-to-large corporate technology; in 2005, it gained $7.7 million in selected assets from New Hampshire-based Amherst Technologies, Inc.; and in 2011, ValCom Technology, of Illinois, another medium-to-large corporate technology service provider.

It also diversified, introducing its “ServiceConnection” brand in 2004, which offers configuration and professional support services to assist small businesses with managing IT needs.

And it formed PC Connection Express, Inc. in 2010, a subsidiary focusing on the company’s consumer segment, selling televisions, games and electronics for small or home offices.

Meanwhile, its GovConnection subsidiary serves government and education sectors, and subsidiary MoreDirect provides IT products and solutions to medium-to-large corporate accounts.

Business customers generate about 90 percent of the company’s total net sales, according to PC Connection’s website.

That doesn’t mean the company has been insulated from the technology slowdown at the beginning of the 21st century or the stumbling economy in recent years. In the late 2000s, The Telegraph reported layoffs at PC Connection each year.

But in 2011, its annual sales show it is managing to bounce back.

“PC Connection achieved record annual sales while attaining the highest annual gross margin in over a decade,” said Timothy McGrath, president and chief executive officer, according to the company’s report on its full year results. “We remain committed to making the investments necessary to continue to grow our business and improve operating performance.”

Still, the challenges that PC Connection face looking to the future also mirror that of the rest of the state, Williams said. It is also a weakness identified in the branding initiative launched by the Chamber of Commerce and the city of Nashua: the state’s aging workforce.

“We’ve had conversations with the management at PC Connection, and I know they’re very interested in bringing more young workers here because their own workforce is heavily comprised of young talent and skills,” Williams said. “So, I suspect in the years to come, we’ll see PC Connection really continue to take on more of a leadership role on that issue of young work force retention as well.”

PC Connection did not return calls seeking interviews for this story.

Maryalice Gill can be reached at 594-6490 or mgill@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Gill on Twitter (@Telegraph_MAG).