Good Foods Market & Café is a true consumer grocery cooperative, offering fresh, wholesome, and organic foods. The market includes a full-service delicatessen, sushi bar, and artisan bakery and offers an extensive selection of fresh locally-grown produce. Good Foods moved to its current location in 1999 and with continuing growth elected to begin expansion of the operation in 2009 to increase and improve service to the customer/owner base. The first phase was completed in 2010, with the final remodel finished in late 2011.
The second phase of the remodel process included the checkout and register areas of the store; not only did Good Foods want to expand the register area from four to five registers, but the coop also wanted the register area to be inviting and friendly, and reflect the store brand.
The existing checkout lights at the time were simply a small square box with the register number, just big enough to hold a light bulb. The register lights were not very visible to customers. In addition, as the first Energy-Star-certified grocery in Lexington, Kentucky, choosing as many green elements during the remodel as possible to keep to LEED standards was important to Good Foods.
Services Provided
Custom Check-Out Lights
Power Poles
Design Services
Sheryl McCoy for Good Foods
Sheryl McCoy, Front End Manager for Good Foods for the last seven years, was referred to D&P Custom Lights & Wiring Systems, Inc., a world leader in the commercial lighting and fixtures industry for more than 30 years, by another company that had used them in the past, and contacted D&P to get more information.
Sheryl explained, “We did talk to a few other suppliers when we first started the project. We chose D&P Custom Lights because they were able to answer all our questions, took the time to really understand our needs, and didn’t mind spending the extra time to educate us on the ‘whys’ behind their products and how they are made.”
Neil Aportadera, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for D&P, began by asking questions about the current register lights and front-end installation to develop an understanding of Good Foods’ requirements. “I also asked Neil a lot of questions,” said McCoy. “When I started the remodeling project I wasn’t even really sure what I needed. Neil really took the time to educate me about checkout lights in general, LED lighting, and power options. He was incredibly patient with the number of questions I had, and really took the time to walk me through how everything worked.”
After a conference call with Sheryl McCoy and the company providing the made-to-order checkstands to be sure how the power poles and lights needed to be designed to fit into the checkstand, Neil and his design group went to work.
According to Neil, “Sheryl and her store management were also a little concerned at first about using LEDs.” “They had experienced some problems with the LEDs in their café burning out and being difficult to replace. We provided step-by-step instructions for them on how to change the bulb, and provided diagrams for them as well.” Neil also mentioned that all of D&P’s LED lights come with a one-year warranty; therefore we would gladly replace any non-working circuit board within that first year.
“Everything was delivered on time as promised. The installation went very well – we installed the registers over several days and were able to keep the store open during the entire time,” commented McCoy.
“We’ve had so many customers comment how beautiful the lights are,” continued McCoy. “This was an incredible upgrade for our store at a very reasonable price and gave us a chance to tie our logo into the store design in a new and unexpected way. “Now when I visit other stores, I see how ‘cookie cutter’ many of them are, and I am so happy ours are uniquely ours!” The checkout lights, power poles, and modular wiring have been installed for almost a year, and we have had zero problems.”
Asked if she would recommend D&P to other retailers, Sheryl said “I think you get an excellent product with excellent service to go along with it. And you would get the opportunity to beautify your store and add a little extra touch at not a great expense.”
For this project, Good Foods wanted the new register lights to have maximum visibility, to “beautify the store,” and to offer one more branding opportunity as customers checked out by using their logo. The design team looked at doing a checkout light in the shape of a leaf but had some concerns about being able to adequately light the whole leaf with the LED option Good Foods wanted. After reviewing three or four design options using different shapes and fonts, Good Foods chose a round register light that incorporated the leaf from their logo at the bottom and used one of the store’s preferred fonts for the number.
Once the light design was finalized, Neil worked with Good Foods and their checkstand supplier to optimize the power pole location and mounting. In addition, the design layout was developed to orient the checkout lights for maximum visibility throughout the store.
The power poles were originally delivered with three-way switches. McCoy says “We didn’t really need the three-way switches with the flashing capability, because our operation is not that big. We had some issues with the switches at first, and as soon as I explained that to Neil, D&P sent us two-way switches and solved the problem immediately.”
I think you get an excellent product with excellent service to go along with it. And you would get the opportunity to beautify your store and add a little extra touch at not a great expense.
– Sheryl McCoy, Good Foods Market & Cafe –
