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Our new blog series, LED Lighting Everywhere, will take you through a facility type in its entirety and explain each opportunity for LED lighting in that space. First up, grocery store lighting and supermarket lighting.

Why would a grocery store want to use LED lighting everywhere, anyway? We're always harping on three universal reasons to choose LEDs: energy savings, maintenance cost reduction, and lighting performance improvements. We'll discuss each in more detail as we go through your grocery store's lighting applications. Now, imagine your store. What do you see first...Woman reading food label under bright led grocery store lighting

  • LED commercial exterior lighting for your grocery store:
    • Maintenance costs are a big concern here because parking lot lights are mounted high up on poles, so you have pay for a bucket truck or lift to change out the lamps and ballasts. Also, because of the way LED lighting generates and distributes light, you won't have to change them out as much to begin with, saving you on maintenance costs.
    • Common wattages for LED parking lot lighting can range from 40w to 600w, often resulting in a 40%-60% reduction in energy consumption when you make the switch to LED lighting. This is a result of how the light is generated (see above link). What this means for your facility is savings of up $300 per fixture, per year, in electricity costs.
    • Another big concern? Safety and attractiveness of your business. The lighting performance of LED parking lot lights is far superior to the old, yellowish glow of high pressure sodium parking lot lights. Increased visibility is safer and also makes your parking lot more inviting for shoppers. Here is a great visual of this comparison:

Before LED Retrofit

Before Photo LEDs Parking Lot-1

 

After LED Retrofit

After LED Retrofit Parking Lot-1

 

 

  • Interior LED lighting for general illumination in your grocery store:
    • Here, we mean the lighting that's likely mounted on your ceilings throughout the store, providing the majority of light to customers. It's probably high bay or fluorescent.
    • These lights are on all the time, so your main concern is probably energy savings. LED lighting could save you up to 40-60% on energy consumption if you're converting high bays.
    • Don't forget those maintenance costs; like in your parking lot, these are mounted high up and require a lift to maintain. Moreover, you'll have to disrupt customers to change these lights out, or pay technicians more to change them after hours. Change them less with LED lights- it's that simple.
    • LED lighting has a far superior color rendering index (CRI) to traditional lighting. This means a whiter, brighter light that renders your products closer to the way they look in natural lighting. More on this later.

 

  • LED lighting in your refrigerator and freezer aisles
    • One of the coolest things about today's LED lights are the endless possibilities for high-tech controls. Motion sensors can turn lights on and off with foot traffic, or turn on only when a certain section of your freezer aisle unit is opened. Not having the lights on all the time saves energy and money. While it's true that other traditional lights can have controls, LED lighting comes with all the other added benefits: the energy and maintenance savings and performance improvements.
      • Bonus: think about installing motion sensor LED lighting in your grocery store's bathrooms, storage rooms, and staff break rooms to save even more money by keeping lights off when spaces are unoccupied.
    • A huge difference between traditional lighting and LED lighting is that LED lighting does not waste energy as heat, hence the efficiency. What could be better in your freezers and refrigerators than a cool to the touch light? Keep food fresher, keep customers safer!

 

  • LEDs in your produce or cooler sections
    • Controls can be really useful here too, but we want to highlight two special benefits of LEDs for produce:

 

When you upgrade your entire grocery store or supermarket with commercial LED lighting, you will see an improved look and feel throughout. The benefits of doing your LED retrofit all at once are clear. The colors in your food will standout more and look and be fresher, your parking lot will be safer and more inviting, your motion sensor lighting will save you money but also provide the high-tech, modern touch customer's are coming to expect in all of their experiences, and so much more.