Renovated Supermarket Showcases Merchandise with Better Light, Improved Efficiency and Continued Savings DURHAM, NC -- Bashas’, a family-owned and operated grocery retailer in the western United States, recently installed energy-efficient LED lighting from Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) to better illuminate its Tempe, Ariz. location. The newly renovated store features luminaires powered by Cree TrueWhite® Technology, delivering superior light quality that helps make products more attractive to customers, while enjoying the benefits of a quick payback and an anticipated energy savings of 47 percent over the store’s previous design.
“Shopping is a highly visual experience and it’s critical to showcase products in their most appetizing colors,” said Scott Murphy, construction manager for Bashas’. “When we decided to remodel the Tempe location, we initially chose fluorescent T8s and CFL downlights until we were introduced to Cree LED lighting. Cree luminaires not only deliver the best LED lighting in the industry but also provide significant energy and maintenance savings compared to outdated technologies. In the grocery store industry, it’s all about margins and Cree helped add green to our bottom line.”
Featuring a number of luminaires from Cree’s extensive portfolio—Cree® CS18™ linear luminaires, CR24™ troffers, and LR6™ and LE6™ downlights—the installation resulted in a one-for-one replacement against the original specification due to the upgrade in light quality as well as energy and maintenance savings. Additionally, the Cree CS18 luminaires deliver strong vertical light levels, illuminating all levels of the store’s shelves using less power and providing significant energy savings,
“Businesses like Bashas’ no longer have to choose between color quality and savings,” said Mike Bauer, vice president of lighting sales, Cree. “Cree luminaires provide a truly no-compromise alternative to fluorescent lighting with exceptional light quality, reduced energy and reduced maintenance costs—all working to increase the bottom line.”
The installed Cree luminaires further help reduce energy consumption with their dimming capabilities. Supermarkets can see even greater energy savings with this technology, especially during hours with low shopper volume. Bashas’ expects the Cree system to pay for itself within two years*. More importantly, the Cree luminaires are backed by Cree’s 10-year industry-leading warranty, providing investment protection.
“Bashas’ is so pleased with our decision to install Cree LED lights, it is now the standard for new and retrofit stores,” Murphy continued. “Not only do they offer energy and maintenance savings, but they produce beautiful, long-lasting lighting that make the store’s products pop.”
*Based on commercial usage of 18 hours per-day and the national average of $0.11 per kWh electric costs, lighting-related HVAC impact and relamp maintenance reductions.
About Cree
Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, mercury-free LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications.
Cree's product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree® products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, power supplies and solar inverters.
This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk that actual savings will vary from expectations; customer acceptance of LED products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 24, 2012, and subsequent filings.
Cree®, Cree TrueWhite®, and TrueWhite® are registered trademarks, and CS18™, CR24™, LR6™ and LE6™ are trademarks of Cree, Inc. Bashas’ is a trademark of Bashas’ Inc.
