In a paint store, color is everything. But it’s hard to make color samples stand out when exposed T-12 fluorescent tubes are lighting the way.

At the Benjamin Moore paint store in Staunton, Virginia, store owner Lesley Merritt was used to dealing with the store’s outdated lighting. When a fluorescent tube began flickering or burned out, she would guide customers to another spot in the store so they could inspect color samples in better lighting.

But she doesn’t have to do that anymore thanks to the recently installed Cree LED lighting. Lesley replaced 28 T-12 fluorescent tubes with 18 long-lasting Cree CR24 LED Troffers. The troffers feature Cree TrueWhite Technology®, which is Cree’s patented technology that delivers highly efficient light with high color accuracy, while maintaining color consistency over the life of the product.
“Although we sell paint, color is essentially what we sell. So for colors to look more accurate and more vibrant here in the store is very helpful,” Lesley said.

Not only is the light quality improved, but the store is reducing its energy consumption, as well as the time and money it spends on lighting maintenance. By replacing 28 T-12 fluorescent tubes with 18 Cree CR24 LED troffers, the store is reducing its lighting energy consumption from 2,240 watts down to 792 watts.

The CR24 LED troffer is designed to last a minimum of 50,000 hours. That means the store could leave the lights on for eight hours a day, seven days a week for more than 17 years without having to replace.

“In the past six years, all of the fluorescent tubes have been replaced at least once,” Lesley said. “Some have been replaced more frequently due to flickering and poor color quality. Usually we dealt with the flickering and the colors not matching for a long time before we would decide we were going to pay somebody to change the bulbs. I’m really looking forward to the new Cree LED lights not needing to be changed for a long time.”

There’s another perk to the new LED lights too: Lesley can’t hear them. The first day Lesley flipped the switch on the LED lights she said she couldn’t believe how quiet the store was compared to the constant hum of the fluorescent tubes.

Click on the link below to watch the video and see the transformation of this store.