Dear Customers,
The month of January is generally slower in the grocery industry than, say November and/or December. It’s probably due to several things, not the least of which is people cutting back after spending more than usual the previous couple of months. January is also the month when those that are going to attempt it, try to lose weight. At least for a short time anyway. New Year’s resolutions have a way of seeming bright and hopeful in the bright glare of the ball dropping from Times Square. But often, they lose their luster the further removed from New Year you get.
Whatever the reason, January is a good time to clean grocery shelves, reorganize the offerings on select sections of our shelves (known as a re-set) and undertake renovations to some degree. As I sat in my office chair over the past 12 months, I noticed how dingy and yellowed our ceiling light fixtures had become. We have been using 48” fluorescent tubes in our store and as I look across the ceiling from my high vantage point, from one end to another there are at least five or six different “colors” apparent. Almost without exception the ends of the tubes had darkened, which is common with fluorescent lighting.
The decision was made to replace all 600 some lights with newer, more efficient LED (light emitting diode) bulbs. LED’s are cool operating and use far less electricity than earlier light fixtures. Plus, they’re extremely bright – particularly when seen next to our existing lamps. It makes sense to re-lamp the entire store at once, rather than to do each fixture one at a time as it fails. You may want to wear your sunglasses inside once we’re all completed!
This won’t be the first time we’ve re-lamped the entire store. In fact, this month marks the 20th anniversary of our doing business in this location. Over that span, we’ve replaced all the light bulbs probably three or four times. This time, however, the LED’s are going to be extremely noticeable. We hope you like the change.