When specialty frozen food retailer M&M Meat Shops began developing a new strategy to become more competitive, it explored various store improvement projects that would enhance shopper experience, build the bottom line, and could be replicated across its 430 franchise locations as part of a multi-year renovation mandate. The grocer found one cost-cutting answer in GE’s ImmersionTM RV40 LED refrigerated display lighting for reach-in cases. The energy-efficient LED retail lighting systems will save M&M Meat Shops about $600,000 in lighting costs annually once installations are complete.

Light where it should be
M&M Meat Shops conducted an evaluation of three competitive LED products for vertical cases and preferred GE’s Immersion RV40 LED system:

“With its 5000-degree Kelvin temperature, GE’s new LED system creates beautiful, bright, white light. It brings out the crispness of our signature white boxes, making them really pop in the vertical cases and impact the visual appeal of the entire store.” said Dianne Chalmers, senior manager of construction at M&M Meat Shops. “Franchisees don’t want their stores looking dark, dingy and tired, and you can see such a difference with these lights. Some stores look 20 years younger. It shows our customers we’re bright, clean and modern. It’s all about the ‘wow’ factor.”

M&M Meat Shops anticipates annual maintenance will be reduced 97 percent—an approximate $525 savings per store.
 

An energy management mandate
As part of an eight-year cycle that mandates LED lighting upgrades be made at the time of each store renovation, franchises are replacing T10 fluorescent lights with Immersion RV40 LED lighting systems. A typical location containing 15 glass freezer doors will reduce direct energy consumption by nearly 6,000 kilowatt hours (kWhs) a year, while also using less indirect energy as the result of fewer freezer compressor cycles—an additional 2,700 kWh reduction. At a $.10 kWh rate and 12 hours of operation a day, the average M&M Meat Shops location will save about $870 a year in lighting energy costs alone.

GE’s LED refrigerated display lighting solution will also eliminate the maintenance cost of replacement ballasts and high-output fluorescent lamps. With Immersion RV40 LED lighting carrying an expected five-year service life, M&M Meat Shops anticipates annual upkeep will be reduced 97 percent as the result of virtually no bulb and ballast replacements—an approximate $525 savings per store.

This brings combined energy and maintenance reductions to nearly $1,400 for each franchisee to complete its lighting upgrade. To date, 150 M&M Meat Shops locations have made the switch to GE’s ecomagination℠ LED technology, a combined $210,000 annual lighting cost savings. These savings will grow to about $600,000 a year across all 430 stores when the renovation cycle is complete.

Lighting systems with local support
M&M Meat Shops worked with Canadian distributor HD Supply Litemor to develop the program and source GE’s LED retail lighting systems.  “We’ve been working with M&M Meat Shops for years, and we knew their lighting system was getting too expensive to maintain,” said George Thomson, sales manager for HD Supply.

“The old T10 fluorescents are not as efficient, and they’re labor-intensive. We knew GE’s LED systems would do a nice job of making the packaging look good. Plus, fluorescents don’t typically perform well in cold environments, but LED lights love the cold. It was a no-brainer.”

Franchisees are further saving on labor costs due to the easy installation of GE’s Immersion LED RV40 product. Most installations have been completed within one day, by only one or two electricians. Additionally, shelving and food products remain in place while the retrofit is being made.

Chalmers added that some franchisees are applying their energy cost savings toward financing the new LED lighting, and then once the financing period has ended, the savings will convert to positive cash flow. Provincial and local power rebates also help shorten each store’s payback, for example, in Nova Scotia the rebate savings are up to 80 percent.

“The rebates have really helped us get a jump on the renovations and encouraged some franchises to make updates before their mandated time.” Chalmers said. “The money franchises are saving on energy costs are helping to pay for the renovations themselves. Plus, the updates are making the stores more valuable and giving them more worth. We’re really happy with this program.”