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Retailers
Target Parking Lot Lighting to Maintain
Pleasant
and Safe Shopping Experience
The customer’s shopping experience begins in the parking lot.
If the parking lot is not safe and secure, especially at night,
consumers will not stop, park or shop. That’s why major retailers
establish strict specifications and monitor the status of their
parking lot light levels to ensure that nothing prevents potential
shoppers from entering their stores. Target Corporation is the industry
leader in this effort.
Target
Corporation prides itself in offering more for less. Target Corporation
operates Target stores, a chain of large, general merchandise discount
stores, as well as the on-line retail site Target.com. The company
currently operates 1,272 Target stores in 47 states, all of which
are required to maintain a pristine, warm atmosphere for shoppers.
Target
established a corporate policy to maintain standards for light levels
for its stores’ main parking, peripheral parking and front
drive areas. As part of their store maintenance program, Target
periodically evaluates the light levels of each of its store location’s
parking lots. That’s why when Target believed its parking lot
light levels at its Hollister, CA, location were not meeting its
corporate standards, they contacted Site Photometrics (SP) in Columbia,
MD, to implement a luminance survey to measure light intensities
from lighting fixtures at various pre-defined locations within the
site area.
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SP
Sheds Light on Target Parking Lot Problems
Established in 1996, SP specializes in providing complete parking
lot lighting service for retailers, from luminance surveys to lighting
system installations. They manage lighting design, electrical engineering,
structural engineering, lighting equipment procurement and electrical
contracting. Over the past eight years, they have completed retail
parking lot lighting projects for more than 175 Target stores, 250
Wal-Mart stores and 25 regional malls.
In
May 2003, SP evaluated the electrical system, light poles, luminaires,
lamps, poles and pole foundations in the 200-space parking lot at
Target’s Hollister location. Their study found that the existing
lighting system included 1000 watt, 277 V Cooper Galleria large
area lighting luminaires with high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps,
and Type AR (vertical symmetric) optics with a bronze finish, mounted
on 39-foot round tapered steel poles. More importantly, SP quickly
determined that only 55 percent of the main parking lot area achieved
Target’s 3.0 foot-candle standard, while 95 percent of the
peripheral parking lot areas attained the 2.0 foot-candle requirement.
In addition, approximately 85 percent of the front drive areas achieved
Target’s 5.0 foot-candle standard. SP also found that one of
the poles needed to be replaced.
In
July 2003, SP provided three solutions that addressed both lighting
requirements and budget considerations. Each solution came with
a computer model and guaranteed lighting performance. All three
solutions also included changing the lighting source from HPS to
metal halide.
"When
we complete an assessment and make a recommendation, " said
Jerome Morstein, principal of SP, "we try to use the existing
infrastructure as much as possible to minimize the expenses for
our customers. For instance, we found that we could still use the
electrical systems and all but one of the light poles at Target’s
Hollister location."
While
trying to minimize expenses and changes to infrastructure, SP did
recommend that Target change their light source. "We have found,
and retailers and developers agree, that metal halide provides a
better quality of light compared to high pressure sodium,"
said Morstein. "Metal halide provides white light compared
to the yellow light offered by high-pressure sodium. Although both
light sources can have the same foot-candles, it is easier to distinguish
dark color under white light. That is important when you are looking
for a gray, blue or black car in a congested parking lot at night."
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Uni-Form® 1000W Benefits/Features
•
Super metal halide for maximum light output
• Reduced
outer jacket for precise optical control
• Warm
3400K color
Target
Ventures into a Variety of Metal Halide Lighting Solutions
For all of their projects, SP specifies Uni-Form® pulse
start metal halide lamps from Venture Lighting, the leading developer
of metal halide lighting technology. Morstein said, "We have
tested the lamps and have found that they meet our tight specifications.
The combination of Venture’s lamps and ballasts ensure superior
lumen maintenance, excellent lamp color uniformity, faster warm-up
times and a high overall system efficiency."
SP’s
first solution to improving the lighting in the Hollister parking
lot was to continue using the existing Cooper fixtures, while changing
the light source from HPS to metal halide lamps. The results of
the change would have little effect on the foot-candle levels, but
would improve the overall visibility in the parking lot.
Their
second solution involved switching the fixtures to two and three
Gardco HT19 1000-watt/480V metal halide luminaries on each of the
existing light poles. This solution increased the percentage of
the main parking lot area meeting the 3.0 foot-candle standard from
55 percent to 65 percent. However, only 65 percent of the main drive
area would meet the 5.0 foot-candle standard.
SP’s
third solution incorporated two and four Gardco HT19 1000-watt/480V
metal halide luminaires and Venture Lighting lamps, which drastically
improved the foot-candles throughout the Hollister parking lot.
Under this lighting scheme, 98 percent of the main parking lot met
the 3.0 foot-candle standard. Ninety-nine percent of the perimeter
parking lot areas met the 2.0 foot-candle requirement, while 95
percent of the front drive area met the 5.0 foot-candle standard.
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Bright
Solution Hits the Target
With the dramatic improvement in light levels, Target selected
the third solution. In April 2004, Target authorized SP to implement
the third solution of replacing 18 1000-watt HPS Cooper luminaires
with AR optics with 24 1000-watt Gardco HT19 luminaires with 4X
optics and Venture MS 1000W/HOR/BT37 lamps. The recommendation also
included converting the balance of the shopping center from 1000-watt
HPS to 1000-watt Venture MS 1000W/BU/BT37/PS pulse start metal halide
lamps with Venture ballasts.
In
order to prevent any disruption to Target’s business, SP implemented
a fast-track program to converting the parking lot lighting in just
two days. "Our goal is help our customer have more consumers
come in to the stores, not disrupt business by tearing up the parking
lot," Morstein said.
SP
uses creative methods to get the project done quickly, such as prefabricating
the lighting system off-site to allow contractors to convert the
lighting system in just two days in June. "We have actually
converted parking lots malls with more than 4,000 parking spaces
in just seven days," stated Morstein.
Sparkling
Results for Target
Upon completion of the Hollister parking lot project, 98 percent
of the main parking lot area met Target’s 3.0 foot-candle standard.
This marks a 43 percent increase in lighting illumination for the
Target store parking lot, to create and inviting place to shop at
night.
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