LED Retrofits Increase Convenience Stores Bottom Line

Stewart's Shops recently completed an energy efficient lighting retrofit project at their corporate headquarters in Saratoga Springs, New York. Stewart's Shops operates 328 convenience stores in Upstate New York and Vermont. The annual savings from the lighting retrofit and replacement program is projected to be almost $78.000 per year. Based on these savings the lighting retrofit project will have a very quick payback period of less than sixteen months.

The existing lighting was replaced with more energy efficient T8 and T5 fluorescent lighting and LED lighting in all of the cold storage and freezer space. The ability of LED lighting to outperform other lighting options in cold temperatures was a key to the success of this project. “The ice cream freezer was the latest phase in a larger energy-efficiency project we've been working on with SmartWatt Energy for the last couple of years,” explained Gary Drake, President at Stewart’s Shops. The new energy efficient lighting will save 783,481 kWh of electricity per year. Stewart's Shops owns all of their real estate holding so these savings are important because they fall directly to their bottom line.

LED lighting provides many benefits for convenience store owners. In addition to energy and maintenance savings, LED lighting provides more uniform lighting and illumination that contribute to a better presentation of store products. This is especially important for food products in refrigerated cases and can lead to increased sales. LED lamps also produce less heat than fluorescent lamps which will lessen the load on the store's refrigeration system. LED’s work very well in the cold and last over 50,000 hours in a cooler and almost 100,000 hours in a freezer. 


RedBird LED, offers a number of high quality LED Linear Replacement lamps that are featured in convenience stores across the country. For more technical information on LED lighting please call 678-733-2473 or visit the RedBird LED website.