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“We must always remember that our partners and our prod- ucts and the services around those are what we offer. Customers need good prices, and the fact is, if we do not manage our cost well, we cannot support those demands.”
— Bill Reynolds
Group vice president of facility alliance
wasteful paper signage in the produce department and the rest of the store, and converting to reusable, efficient signage that merchandisers can flip,” adds Mike Willis, general manager of the H- E-B Plus! LEED-certified store at Stone Ridge Market.
Another sustainability win is
moving to concrete floors from linoleum, which are easier to clean with fewer chemicals, while being more durable, according to Chris Clutter, engineering design manager, design and construction.
“We’ve gone to a continuous dimming system on some of our more recent stores so that it is not as abrupt or noticeable to the customer,” says Reynolds. “We wanted to make it more transparent and something that is not a distraction.
“We must always remember that our part- ners and our product and the services around those are what we offer,” Reynolds empha- sizes. Using less energy, for example, is a really good consumer cost model. “Customers need good prices, and the fact is, if we do not manage our cost well, we cannot support those demands.”
Behind The Scenes
That strategy pursues all aspects in the sustainability journey, with an unyielding push to cut out waste, reduce energy, alleviate inefficiencies and innovate both business savvy and environmentally friendly solutions.
“Being a supermarket, we use a lot of energy through refrigeration, high-intensity lighting and air conditioning required to keep the humidity out,” says Joe Lopez, H-E-B’s
Twenty-one years as a partner, Anna Chandler, region merchant for produce and floral, spends much of her time looking for ways to enhance displays while finding effi- ciencies and better ways to lighten partners’ workloads.
MAY 2011 • PRODUCE BUSINESS 45