Retail, office and home environments frequently make use of shelving, and lighting to illuminate or even showcase items on a shelf. Movable shelves are often supported on shelf brackets, which attached to shelf support columns. Typically, each shelf support column attaches to a wall or other supporting member, and has a series of apertures to which the shelf brackets affix. A shelf or a series of shelves is generally supported by two shelf support columns, one at each end of the shelf, and optionally one or more additional shelf support columns in the middle. It would be advantageous to provide for lighting or other electrical needs at the shelves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,261 describes a modular furniture system having vertical standards with internal conductors. The conductors are coupled to a source of low-voltage electrical power such that adjacent vertical standards are of differing electrical polarity. Brackets supporting the shelves of the modular furniture system make electrical contact with the internal conductors when a bracket is engaged in a vertical standard. A light fixture, coupled between a pair of brackets engaged with adjacent vertical standards, can be energized. Yet, there is a need in the art for improvements and alternatives to the above-described system.