Haven of quality Booths shown the ‘green way’
By Damian Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Booths grocers have been purveyors of quality produce since 1847 and have 26 stores across Lancashire, Cumbria, Cheshire and North Yorkshire.
It’s the kind of retailer that, through five generations of experience in retailing and enormous attention to detail, continues to make sure one standard is always upheld. And that standard is sheer excellence.
Booths have a deep-rooted community ethos and tend to operate their stores where the staff often know the customers by name.
The staff are trained on Booths produce, and they care about their customers’ needs and the presentation and storing of goods. They will knowledgeably inform you about your cheese, meat or wine purchase if you wish to learn about your food or need help in planning a dinner party. Nothing is too much trouble, and offers of food samples on the delicatessen counter are frequently made from helpful - but not pushy - staff, tempting you into tasting everything from a creamy Stilton to the finest Greek olives.
This kind of retailing is all about customer experience and exceeding expectations.
In line with many other common sense principles, Booths have identified the need to ensure they minimise their operational impact on the environment without compromising the overall customer experience. With this in mind, voltage regulation was seen as the best possible efficiency solution, without being invasive for the customer.
Food-hall-style retailing does mean you have two very key business requirements: to keep products chilled and fresh, and customers comfortable and buying.
Booths have used the retained services of Greenway Electrical Ltd, based in Preston for approaching two years. Contracts manager Bryan Watson was able to see the considerable benefit to Booths by introducing PowerSave technology.
Bryan will be the first to admit he is not easily impressed, and indeed had discounted recommending countless other technologies to Booths because power continuity and measurability were Bryan’s main concerns.
A thorough three-phase logging took place in August 2010, revealing an average site voltage of 243v across all phases. It also identified an ideal load type for voltage optimisation, with a low proportion of equipment required to be backed out of the overall power calculations despite the in-store bakery.
This revealed that a 2.8 year payback on investment was likely to be achieved. Booths were delighted as they had a non-invasive solution that was ticking all of the boxes, and something Bryan was prepared to endorse too!
In early January this year the ESS 600 amp unit and bypass were delivered to Booths’ Haven Road store in Lytham St.Annes. Now here’s the good bit! Greenway Electrical measured the electrical use for the week prior to switch on in January 2010, along with the following week’s use once the bypass switch was thrown. The ESS was active over the same timed periods with similar weather conditions.
It’s early doors, but we have a 20% saving recorded as a comparative, which has been independently validated for Booths by Greenway Electrical.
If this rate of power saving continues, PowerSave will deliver a better than 1.5 years simple payback on investment to Booths. Incredible!
We’re delighted that everything is working brilliantly and the results are exceeding expectations. If you have a similar environment with large lighting, HVAC and chilled loads, please give me a call and we can look to deliver substantial power savings to you too.
By Damian Mitchell
07770 582 542
Sales engineer for the North
