We’ve all been in a warm, brightly-lit furniture showroom. Most people don’t stop to think about how much energy the business is wasting on lighting. They need fixtures lighting the general areas in between displays and spotlights on actual furniture displays. A few furniture showcase stores have replaced their bulbs with LED lamps. LED lighting is absolutely ideal for furniture stores because they save on electricity, cool down the store, and provide directional light on displays.
RC Willey, a furniture store only 20 minutes from “The Strip” in Summerlin, Nevada, replaced 4,500 90-watt halogen lamps in their 50,000 square-foot showroom with 10-watt MSi iPAR LED lighting fixtures. The furniture store is saving $182,000 annually on electricity costs with the new lamps. Within hours of installation, the employees noticed cooler temperatures in the showroom. RC Willey was able to raise the thermostat a few degrees and in return, they are saving $90,000 annually on air conditioning costs. According to LEDs Magazine, the 90-watt bulbs the furniture store used to have burned 12 hours per day and needed to be replaced every four months. The LEDs are expected to last 12 years and will be saving the company $21,000 annually in maintenance and replacement costs. Over the 12 year lifespan of the new LED fixtures, RC Willey will be saving approximately $3.4 million!
A furniture superstore in Boca Raton, Florida, is also planning to install LEDs into its new showroom. City Furniture will be one of the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-registered furniture stores in the nation, and is also looking to become LEED certified. The 93,680 square-foot complex will feature an Ashley Furniture showroom. When it comes to lighting, the building will be featuring natural sunlight and LED lighting to illuminate the showroom. Each of the LED fixtures City Furniture has picked will cost $300, but the company is pleased the fixtures will last 10 years and consume less energy than other lighting fixtures available.
Furniture stores are just another type of business that could benefit greatly from LED lighting. It’s almost unbelievable that RC Willey is going to save over $3 million just because they installed LED lamps! We hope to work with more furniture stores so they can take part in the benefits of LED lighting.