Southeastern Minnesota IGAs Add REMIS Glass

REMIS America has installed its RemiSafe doors onto previously open cases at three Rush Foods IGA locations in southeastern Minnesota.

REMIS added 16 feet of grey doors at Harmony IGA, 88 feet of black doors at Preston IGA, and 84 feet of black doors at Rushford IGA. In addition to the doors, REMIS installed 42 feet of its black Ecosafe island covers at the Rushford, MN, location. REMIS also upgraded the existing case lighting to LEDs to help save additional energy and improve visibility and product display.

Brad Hoiness, co-owner/operations manager, said that he heard of REMIS through a fellow IGA retailer who had installed doors to save on his electric bill. For Rush Foods, the estimated annual Kilowatt hour savings at each store is: 5,367 kWh for Harmony, 40,757 kWh for Preston, and 39,558 kWh for Rushford, based on data provided by Tri-County Electric Cooperative.

Although saving money was the primary reason to install REMIS glass, improving product quality was a close second motive for the grocer. As Hoiness explained, “The temperature consistency will not only extend the shelf life of our fresh foods, but also it will keep foods fresh longer in our customers’ refrigerators.”

Hoiness said both customers and employees are proud of the upgrades. “Our customers like to see improvements made to ‘their store’ and they understand that electricity is getting to be a bigger expense even in their own home.” Further, the stores’ customers “have shown their appreciation for how much warmer the store feels, which makes shopping more enjoyable,” he added.

In addition, “Our employees understand it is necessary to save money on the electric bill and are proud [of what] we've accomplished with this project,” said Hoiness, noting that the installation process went smoothly.

“The REMIS team was very professional from start to finish. They understand how to protect our products in the cases they are working on and were able to install the system overnight so it did not negatively impact our business. The custom REMIS system fits so well, it looks like it was always meant to be there.”

Elkhart, Ind.-based REMIS America offers retro-fit refrigeration doors and covers to grocery retailers and OEM case manufacturers that cut energy costs up to 80 percent while also greatly reducing retailers’ carbon footprint.

For more information, visit remisamerica.com.