Boyer’s Food Markets

The late Harold S. Boyer founded a corner grocery store in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania in 1949. Over the last 56 years the corner store, Boyer’s Food Markets, has grown into a chain of sixteen stores located throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. Boyer’s Markets have built their reputation on being a very customer-focused operation, supplying high quality of service and products at competitive prices, which has allowed them continued growth in this very competitive market.

Most of the Boyer’s Markets still retained their original T-12 fluorescent lighting. A few of the stores had fixtures installed running across the aisles which caused light levels to fluctuate as the customer walked down the aisle. Other stores had fixtures which were not providing adequate light levels to showcase the products. Another area of concern created by their extended hours of operation was that the incandescent lamps used in spot lighting specials always needed to be replaced.

John Boyer, one of Harold’s sons sought out the expertise of Atlantic Energy Concepts, a Reading, Pennsylvania-based energy service company that specializes in energy-efficient commercial lighting upgrades. Like any business, Boyer’s wanted to reduce operating expenses wherever it could but maintain a well lit environment for their customers shopping experience. Atlantic Energy Concepts conducted an in-depth lighting energy audit for each of the stores in question. The results of the surveys revealed that not only could a lighting upgrade improve the light levels, but give the store greater visual comfort and reduce lighting maintenance costs as well. In addition to these benefits Boyer’s Markets also reduced their monthly electric utility bill significantly. With energy-efficient lighting renovations completed in six of the Boyer’s Markets thus far, the electric utility savings are approaching $45,000 annually with paybacks in the 3-year range. As an additional bonus Atlantic Energy Concepts was available to get Boyer’s Markets approved for a Pennsylvania DEP energy conservation grant program to help offset the cost of the lighting upgrade, further reducing the project cost and payback.

Atlantic Energy Concepts installed the lighting retrofit upgrades during late night hours when the stores were either closed or had relatively few people shopping. This helped to reduce any inconvenience to the customers and employees.

After the lighting retrofits were complete, the individual store managers received numerous positive comments from their customers expressing how much brighter the overall store is. The customers aren’t the only ones benefiting from these energy efficient improvements. John Boyer stated, “In the ‘every penny counts’ grocery business, saving money on electricity usage helps us to remain competitive.” To date they have retrofitted six of their sixteen stores and will benefit from these upgrades for many years to come!