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Retail stores
Friendly Stranger – Cannabis Culture Shop (Toronto, Canada)
According to Robin Ellins, Proprietor of Friendly Stranger, the cannabis culture shop was founded 20 years ago “as a public voice in favor of Cannabis decriminalization”. What began as a 200 square foot second floor store has grown into a 3000 square foot high-end boutique on fabulous Queen Street West in downtown Toronto.
Robin first contacted Leapfrog Lighting to discuss the Leapfrog LED PAR lamps and to purchase a small number for testing on site. Once testing was complete, Robin installed Leapfrog products throughout the entire 3000 square foot shop.
This is Robin’s story:
I personally grew up in the country and watched as my father built a house around us. His appreciation and dedication to lighting techniques left a lasting impression. He was a professional photographer, and saw lighting in the home as a very important part of creating atmosphere and mood. Consequently, I have always understood how important proper lighting techniques are, and it is one of the reasons our shop stands out from other shops. I personally designed and built the shop interior, the display cases, and installed and wired all of the lighting fixtures.
Problem:
- Finding an energy-efficient product that matched the aesthetics of incandescent: “I had been looking into LED lighting for the past five years. In fact, I had purchased and tried every LED bulb on the market. This was both for home and the shop. In the end I found one bulb that was worth using and returned all of the other bulbs. Mind you the bulb I found that worked was only good in a table lamp behind a shade! I could not find a single bulb that would replace a standard 50 watt PAR 20! For the most part, the bulbs I tried had poor color rendition and spotty surface illumination due to multiple LEDs. I had actually given up looking and decided to wait until the market matured and the right bulbs became available.”
- High electricity consumption and heat: “The shop, in it’s current form, is 14 years old, and was designed to use PAR 20, 50-watt incandescent light bulbs. The lighting was excellent, however costly to run and created a lot of excessive heat–to the point where the air conditioning could not keep up!”
- High maintenance requirements: “Problems with the old lights definitely included regular changing of bulbs.”
Solution
- Leapfrog Lighting LED PAR lamps: “I purchased a few MR16s, a couple of hundred PAR20s and some PAR30s. All have the 2700K colour and an 85 CRI. I was able to change over to LED without changing the appearance of the shop in any way. If it wasn’t pointed out to people, they would never have known.We installed the bulbs in every fixture in the shop. Front windows, display cases, everywhere. We are now down to 10 non-LED bulbs in the entire shop. Only because they are specialty types that do not have an LED equivalent.”
I came across an article about Leapfrog completely by chance, on a government website. It was a Canadian success story and talked about Stephen Naor, the founder, and his vision. Once I saw the website and read through the information I knew I had found the right place. Best of all it was a Canadian company! I quickly got in touch and requested samples. The offer to finance the purchase for a full store replacement and pay it back in energy savings was the icing on the cake.
Results
- Savings: “We waited until we received two hydro bills to confirm our energy savings. It’s hard to believe, but we have lowered our bill by $250 a month!
- Cleaner, more directed light: “The light is much more even and has allowed us to actually spot product, not just wash it in light. Customers are oblivious to the change. They still see a beautifully lit shop and the overall effect, not the actual lighting itself.”
- Cooler store: “Best of all the store is cooler, much cooler, which makes it a lot more comfortable for customers and staff alike.”
We would recommend Leapfrog wholeheartedly. They were very professional in our business dealings, and provided samples upfront. They worked with us to ensure we were able to obtain the needed financing to facilitate the change, and they handled a warranty related issue immediately.
Products used:
Tanda Shoes (Ottawa, Canada)
Problem:
- High electricity consumption. “I had 70 x 70 Watt halogens in just one of my Ottawa store locations. When I looked at how little wattage the Leapfrog bulb was for a similar–if not better–light output, I knew it was going to be measurable savings: 4900kWh vs. 890WkWh.”
- Store aesthetics. “When you first came to the store, you could see I had all different bulbs in there. I was testing various products seeing which ones would work. I spent a lot of money just testing different products and they were all bad. None of them put the footwear in the best possible light. Too dim, too dull, or in the case of the 5000K LEDs I tried, too blue.”
Solution:
- Leapfrog Lighting LED PAR lamps. “I outfitted both my Tanda locations in Leapfrog LEDs. I went with the 2700K for one location and 3000K for the other. Both buildings are different and once you took in all the factors, the stores looked better with slightly different color temperatures. I liked that we had that flexibility.”
Results:
- Crisp and focused light: “Leapfrog LEDs are crisp, more focused on what I want to highlight, unlike the old once which were much too diffuse.”
- Custom lighting: “What I like about Leapfrog is that we had choice of color temperature, we had a choice of beam angle, and we got to deal with a local company. You’re not one of those gigantic manufacturers that just sells mass market kind of products. Leapfrog sells high-end, specialty products that come in a variety of color temperatures, light outputs, beam angles and CRIs…products that are versatile enough to fit my exact needs. It’s not just a one-size fits all solution. I value that.”
- Cleaner more even light: “Lighting is really, really important for retail stores. It attracts people and makes your products look better. My high-end footwear looks much more attractive now. I now know the importance of quality, good lighting. I did a lot of research and testing before I came across Leapfrog, so I could spot the quality with Leapfrog right away.”
- Savings: “Leapfrog lamps qualified for the ENERGY STAR rebate program, so it was fantastic. And so far, the energy savings are tremendous.”
Product(s) used:
- Leapfrog Lighting PAR30 2700K (ENERGY STAR) in Barrhaven Town Center
- Leapfrog Lighting PAR38 3000K in Community Plaza Kemptville
Tag Along Toys (Ottawa, Canada)
Problem:
- High electricity consumption. “I’ve been complaining about my electricity bill for years! Just ask [Assistant Manager] Debbie. My [electrician] brother was constantly saying my bills must be so high based on the halogen lights. Plus, Iwas running fans, which is an additional cost.”
- Operational and maintenance costs. “I was spending about $2400 a year on halogen! At least 6 halogens would go out every month. And I’d have to wait to change it, because it was too hot to touch. I don’t like having light bulbs out, as it looks bad. It can even look like you can’t afford your bills, and that doesn’t help your business.”
- Store aesthetics. “Everything looked dull yellow…the toys, the boxes.”
- Finding an eco-friendly lighting product that made merchandise look attractive. “The eco-friendly lights I tried were disastrous. The lighting was poor and the lights were burning out fast. Installing those bulbs was an expensive nightmare.”
Solution:
- Leapfrog Lighting LED PAR lamps.
Results:
- A broader, cleaner, and more even light. “The whole store just has a nice, calming effect. The toys look white and clean looking now. The packages pop more; they just look more colorful because they are not as yellowy looking. Employees have really noticed the difference”.
- Cooler store. Before, we would have the A/C on full blast, and the store would still read 78-80 degrees (Fahrenheit). As soon as we put the LED lights in, it would be between 68-72 degrees (Fahrenheit), which is what we wanted in the store”.
- Savings. “After one year, I’ll have seen my return on investment, and then the $2400 I was spending in lighting costs, plus the money I’ll be saving on my bills, will give me extra money to put into the store.”
Tag Along Toys with Leapfrog Lighting PAR30 3000K LED light bulbs.
Product(s) used:
Full customer story:
- Tag Along Toys – How a toy store created a better business experience through LED lighting.
