Spar to put doors on chiller cabinets

James Hall, the Spar wholesaler in the North of England, is putting doors on its dairy cabinets in 40 of its company-owned stores, following a trial.

According to the company, the initiative will dramatically improve the energy efficiency of its stores - equivalent to the running of three family homes on an annual basis.

In a pilot, James Hall fitted doors to an eight-year-old store to assess the impact on customer spend. It found no impact on customer sales, which remained just as buoyant in spite of the chiller cabinet doors being in place.

Customers linger for longer at closed cabinets

The trial store cut its daily energy use by nearly two thirds on average - creating payback in just over 12 months, adding an extra £3,000 to the store’s bottom line.

Frank Frayling, general manager store design and technical services at James Hall, said: “Installing these doors means less power consumption, better temperature control and increased product life.

"The cabinet doors also stop air conditioning systems from needing to work so hard at heating the stores, and the lack of a cold aisle means customers are likely to linger for longer and potentially increase their purchasing.”

Frayling said the doors are easy to install and can be fitted in less than a day. They have no effect on the visual aesthetics of the store, are robust and require no maintenance, and are easy to clean.

“This all-new initiative will bring guaranteed results to retailers – it will increase their profits and cut down their electricity usage, all while trading in an environmentally responsible way,” said Frayling.

James Hall follows in the footsteps of another Spar retailer, James Graven, which has fitted doors to its chillers in its recently refurbished Ely forecourt store (visit jamesgraven.com)

Last month (June) Global Convenience Store Focus broke the news Tesco is fitting doors on all new fridges in stores in its Express convenience chain (visit Global Cstore June 2010