Quality lighting improves customer environment and decreases expenses
When a video game store opened for business in Dubuque, Iowa with the idea of having great products, great prices and great customer services, they didn’t think about LED lights. Here is the story from Carrie Leicht of Video Games, Etc!
“Over time, we evolved into a seven-store chain with six stores spread across much of Eastern Iowa and one store across the river in Moline, Illinois. Aside from Dubuque, the other Iowa communities we call home are Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, and Davenport. Years in a competitive market hasn’t changed our original ideas.
We pride ourselves in selling great products at great prices! Having grown a reputation over the years for offering the best trade-in values in the area, along with the importance we place on great customer service, has ensured our sustainability as a multi-location brick and mortar retain establishment.
While we have focused on the latest technology in the products we sell and staying relevant with the fast-changing pace of the gaming industry, the technology we used when it came to our lighting was definitely not on our radar.
When a friend of ours, John, started talking to us about LED lights, the current rebate programs available to us at the time piqued our interest.
John completed an assessment of not just our Dubuque location, but all seven of our locations! When he scheduled a time to look at numbers, we were eager to find out how much of the project would be covered under a rebate. Between all of our locations, we found ourselves in three different energy provider territories, i.e., MidAmerican Energy, Alliant Energy and Cedar Falls Municipal.
Once John got started, we were surprised by learning that, as a small business, we were unnecessarily spending $8,340.00 annually on lighting energy we could avoid by choosing different technology.
Our savings would come from the reduced wattage of the LED light equivalents for our existing fixtures which averaged 50.3% load reduction across all of our locations.
Additionally, not only did John estimate almost $3,000 in rebates that we were eligible for, he also walked us through the entire rebate process once the installation for all seven locations were complete.
The difference in the light quality was immediately noticeable and resolved a known complaint of a couple of our badly lit locations.
We also started tracking our energy bill as soon as the new LED lights were installed, and I’m pleased to say that we have already noticed a decrease in our energy expenses!
I would recommend this company to everyone looking to switch out their lights to LED.” Carrie Leicht, Video Games Etc.!”
