Colorado True Value Location Case Study

True Value Location Maximizes Shopper Experience, Increases Employee Engagement and Maximizes ROI with Lighting Retrofit

Over $4,000 estimated energy savings per-year with LED lighting installation

Situation

Local hardware stores are continually looking for ways to improve efficiencies and be more competitive against their big box competition. For one Colorado True Value location, they looked to upgrade their old lighting technology to LED. This location had some burnouts and older products throughout the facility, which caused them to have inconsistent light levels throughout the store. Additionally, the back of the house area was looking to retrofit their current lighting to increase overall light levels so workers could better see the tasks at hand and increase productivity. That’s when they began looking to lighting distributor, LED Supply Co. and TCP Lighting solutions.

Solution

The retail area was lit with linear fluorescent T8 strips. Replacing the fluorescent strips with LED General Purpose Strip fixtures helped the facility to have significant energy savings in addition to balancing the light distribution. The balanced light levels combined with the right color temperature in the retail area (4100 Kelvin) provided shoppers with a better overall experience.

Shoppers surveyed post-lighting retrofit commented, “It [the lighting] doesn’t feel as harsh in here as it did before.” And, “Oh wow! It’s so much brighter and inviting.”

During the retrofit process, LED Supply Co. and TCP recommended a higher CRI lamp type in select areas of the store where customers really needed to get a better understanding of product being purchased. For example, the paint area took advantage of the higher CRI LED lamps so customers could truly see the colors they were looking to put in their homes. The combination of a better in-store aesthetic and energy savings should make this location more competitive as time progresses.

“The balanced light levels combined with the right color temperature in the retail area provided shoppers with a better overall experience.”

The back of the house is equally as important as the front retail location when looking at savings on both energy and efficiency. Prior to the retrofit, the back of the house was mismatched and worker areas, where tasks like mower maintenance were performed, had inadequate light levels for such intricate projects. With the lighting upgrades, employees now have a better overall work environment because of the consistent light levels, better color temperature and overall more lumens to perform the tasks at hand.

“Wow, it is so much easier to do my job now that I can really see inside the mowers,” stated by an employee who works in the back of the house.

One of the biggest advantages of the LED retrofit are the on-going energy and maintenance savings. Before utility rebates, the company is projected to save an estimate of $4,634 in energy savings (see table below).

This True Value location worked with both LED Supply Co. and TCP’s Utility Rebate team to take advantage of utility funding to help offset the project’s costs. Some utility companies offer rebates to make switching to energy-saving products more affordable by decreasing the overall demand on the grid. Working with both the distributor and TCP’s Utility Rebate team to find the products that will meet the aesthetic  and technical needs of the store location, and maximize rebate dollars was a huge plus. It is anticipated that this location saved over half of the upfront investment costs by taking advantage of utility rebates in their area.