With 21 food and petroleum stores in the local Phoenix area, Eric Seitz, owner of 4 Sons Food Stores Inc., was paying for a lot of lighting maintenance.
“I was growing tired of the maintenance and expense involved with our lights and I wanted to lower the power bills at all of our locations,” says Seitz.
That’s when Seitz contacted Treve Gibson, owner of DemandDrop, about upgrading his existing lighting to a more efficient lighting solution that wouldn’t alter his current lighting plan. Enter Cree.
“We worked together to create a phenomenal cost-saving solution using Cree LED lights,” says Gibson.
Solution
With multiple locations of various sizes and layouts to upgrade, Gibson developed a plan to upgrade two to three locations per month.
“Each location has strict lighting rules and the existing lighting plans were already compliant. The Cree luminaires saved us time, because they worked great as one-to-one (or less) replacement solutions. So, we didn’t have to redesign the entire lighting plan,” says Gibson.
Throughout all of the stores the canopy lighting was transitioned from 400-watt metal halide to the high-performing CPY Series, which allowed Seitz to reduce the number of luminaires needed. Around the C-Store, 42-watt XSPW Wall Packs replaced 175-watt metal halide. For stores with car washes, the XSPW Wall Packs or CPY250 Canopy/Soffit luminaires were used.
Inside the stores, 12-watt CR6 Downlights were used to replace 32-watt CFL fixtures, and the ZR Series Troffers replaced three-lamp fluorescent T8 fixtures. ZR24 luminaires provide 90+ CRI to make merchandise colors and brands pop at 4,000 Kelvin.
“I was skeptical about reducing the color temperature because I’ve always used 5,000 Kelvin at my stores but it worked—the lighting is so much brighter and uses less energy,” says Seitz.
In some locations, two-lamp fluorescent T8 bulbs were easily switched to LED with the UR Series Upgrade Kits—using the existing housing allowed for reduced fixture waste.
Benefits
By upgrading the light fixtures to Cree LED luminaires, 4 Sons Food Stores Inc. was able to save $1,500 to $1,800 per month per location on energy costs—about one-third of the energy bill. In addition, each location saves thousands of dollars annually on maintenance costs since Cree LED lights are virtually maintenance-free for 10 years. For example, the Cave Creek location is estimated to save $3,500 in annual maintenance costs. By upgrading, each location was able to secure between $8,000 to $16,000 in utility rebates. In Cave Creek’s situation, the payback was brought down to 1.7 years.
The cost savings doesn’t end with the lighting upgrade. “The money we have saved on energy and maintenance costs from the lights, allowed us to install programmable thermostats.
Since the Cree LED lights generate less heat than traditional lights, we were able to adjust the set temperature allowing us to keep the c-store comfortable, while our HVAC system uses less energy,” says Seitz. “The temperature change really pays off since it can be 115 or higher in the summer.”
The benefits of Cree LED lighting doesn’t stop at cost savings—4 Sons Food Stores Inc. is also benefiting from the crisp white light creating excellent visibility and an inviting, safe atmosphere. “Our stores are so bright now that they bring in customers from the highway,” says Seitz. “Neighboring stations end up getting lost in the dark and we stand out in the crowd.”
“The Cree LED lighting helps customers feel safe and secure late at night,” says Gibson.
“The lighting is very comfortable,” says Gibson. “It’s bright, but not piercing to the eyes.” Plus, the interior LED lighting helps make the store merchandise and displays pop without being overbearing.
“We are very happy with our decision to upgrade the lighting in all of our locations to Cree LED lighting. From the crisp white light to the energy and maintenance savings—it’s a win for us,” says Seitz.