Southtown Audio Video, located in update New York near Buffalo, celebrated two major milestones in 2024—its 40th year in business and its 10th year under ownership by Heather Sidorowicz. Though she has owned the firm for a decade, her time with the company goes much further than that. Southtown was started as a hi-fi store by Sidorowicz’s father and, after years in the residential space, has become one of Western New York's biggest commercial AV companies.
Despite having AV in her blood, running an AV integration shop was not necessarily a fait acompli for Sidorowicz. “I was a theater major,” she confessed. “While that doesn't always seem like a direct connection, I think that I still deliver pieces of entertainment to people. I think there is a thread between being an actress on stage and doing a training for 25 people and making sure that they're able to connect the best way that they can.
[SCN Hall of Fame 2025: John Godbout]
“I think it should be a college prerequisite to take some basic acting courses because you learn about things such as reading body language. If I'm on a sales call, I can tell if the other person is not receptive to what I am saying. So, there are these crazy connections with acting that let you see the world a little bit differently.”
Shortly after college, after a brief stint in marketing, Sidorowicz got bit by the AV bug and joined SAV. “I was at a surround sound demo at a home show at the time that used a violent film even though there were children there,” she recalled. “That's when I knew that my approach would be different. I've had the chance to rewrite the rules and reshape the industry, seeing opportunities where others might have stuck to convention. This approach has been instrumental in driving our company’s remarkable growth and success."
Over the years, at Sidorowicz’s urging, Southtown got more and more into commercial integration. She knew she wanted to go all in, and to do just that, she purchased the company outright.
“In 1901, Buffalo was the second richest city in the country. It was a big steel-industry town, but it did not go so well,” explained Sidorowicz. “Between early 2010 to 2014, it was starting to finally experience its renaissance. We could physically see buildings were going up in our city.
“I knew that there was business out there and I knew that our approach would work for it. At that time, AV commercial companies were very much like electricians where, if it worked, you didn't see them again. Being a relationship-centric and people-oriented company, we went in there with our approach, and I underestimated how much it was needed—because I bought the company in 2014 and by 2015 we doubled in size.”
And that company growth has not stopped—since purchasing SAV in 2014, Sidorowicz took what was a $600,000 company and led it to surpass $4 million in 2024, establishing it as the largest locally owned AV company in the area. Sought out for the innovation and excellence it brings to its projects, Southtown recently completed a major half-million-dollar project at the University at Buffalo that features a 163-inch DVLED wall integrated with a Crestron NVX system and Sony AI camera.
[SCN Hall of Fame 2025: David Martin]
So, what’s next for SAV? The company is in the early phases of expansion and has purchased additional property. “We also have some large projects on the horizon, including a stadium, that we’re going to be part of," Sidorowicz noted. "That’s going to be huge and that will take us into 2026.”
