The ladders at a Michigan-based grocery chain are being used a lot less these days now that the produce sections are lit with Cree LED lights.

Up until a few months ago, employees at the three Value Center Marketplace stores used to haul out the ladder every couple of weeks to replace the burned out 90-Watt Par 38 spotlights that lit up the fruits and veggies, according to store owner Ron Fariada.

But earlier this summer, Ron replaced the energy-wasting incandescent lights in the produce sections at all three of his stores with energy-efficient Cree LRP-38™ LED lights. His new LED lights consume only 11 Watts of energy and provide beautiful, warm light that helps make the color of the store’s fruits and vegetables pop.

“It’s just worry free,” Ron said. “I’m not going to have to worry about changing any bulbs for years. There was an upfront cost, but you’ve got immediate savings as far as power.”

When Ron opened the first Value Center Marketplace in 1989, he was committed to offering the freshest quality foods and the best in family value. More than 20 years later, Ron now runs three of the grocers just outside Detroit, Michigan.

In all, he replaced 50 incandescent lights at each of stores with Cree LRP-38 lights, for a total of 150 LED lights.

Ron said he expects a two-year payback on his LED lights when he takes into account the energy savings and maintenance savings. The produce lights in his stores are on for about 12 hours a day, seven days a week. And since the LRP-38 LED lights are designed to last 50,000 hours, Ron could continue to save energy and money for another nine years before he needs to consider replacing the lights.

Already he’s noticed that when he walks under his new LED lights, the area feels cooler than when the 90 Watt incandescent spotlights were lighting up the area.  Ron said he also expects to see HVAC savings.

The produce at Ron’s stores is hand-picked daily from the local farmers market. And now, it can truly shine under LED lights.