ICSC: International Council of Shopping Centers

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Safeway shows off 'green' supermarket

It hasn’t been all theory and no practice at the ICSC RetailGreen Conference & Trade Exposition, which was held this week in Hollywood, Calif. Attendees were taken on a tour of the new Pavilions supermarket in West Hollywood to see why owner Safeway thinks it deserves LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Some 85 percent of the materials from the demolition of the houses, shops and the demolished store were recycled, and nearly 90 percent of construction debris was diverted from landfills.

Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting was used in the pilasters, which Safeway estimates will reduce electrical consumption by some 28,100 kilowatt-hours per year. The company also used LED lighting in the exterior signs to cut energy use by 80 percent versus the former standard neon, and in the refrigeration cases as well, for a 63 percent energy-use and carbon-emissions savings compared to fluorescent lamps.

Lighting throughout the store is directed at the product, not the floors and walls, which Safeway says brings consumption down to 1.1 watts of electricity per square foot.

Water runoff from the parking lot and roof is collected and directed to an aquifer to minimize the impact on the municipal storm water system, amounting to the diversion of about 7,400 cubic feet of storm water per year.

The refrigeration systems are equipped with R-507 HFC refrigerant, which is said not to deplete the atmosphere’s ozone layer. For its heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment, Safeway installed a system that uses R-410a refrigerant rather than the less-efficient R-22, which the Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out. Dimming sensors in backrooms, work areas, stockrooms and frozen cases achieve energy savings of about 80 percent yearly, compared with conventional lighting.

More-efficient frozen-food doors are expected to save 135,655 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and about 280 kwh per day, according to Safeway.

The exterior landscaping uses drip irrigation to conserve water and minimize runoff.

More than 50 shopping center developers, architects, construction professionals, consultants and retailers from the U.S., Canada and other countries toured the 52,000-square-foot Pavilions.

Vons, a division of Safeway, rebuilt the Pavilions store from the original 36,000-square-foot grocery store built in 1961. The store, on Santa Monica Boulevard, was renovated and expanded in 1988, but Vons wanted to do something different. After 10 months of construction — 13 months, counting demolition of housing on the site — it opened for business in July.

The store features a modern, upscale look, expanded merchandise lines and new departments, such as a full-service pharmacy; a deli; a selection of fresh, local and organic produce; natural, organic meat and seafood; and a wine cellar.

“We’ve got all the major essentials of a modern-day grocery store, plus a lot of bells and whistles,” said Tom Keller, Vons’ president, in a prepared statement. But this time Vons added to its merchandise offering an array of “green” building features.

One of the tour guides, Theresa Richardson, a construction project manager for Vons, said Safeway used Massachusetts-based Energy Logic to process Safeway’s state and federal government rebates for energy-efficient systems. “We gave them the invoices, and they applied and got us the rebate money, said Richardson.

On the tour was Tina Marshall, who had a professional and private interest in the project. Marshall, vice president of retail at Edens & Avant, which owns and operates 140 community shopping centers, is building her own LEED-certified home in South Carolina. “Most of the grocers are integrating green features into their stores,” said Marshall. “Their [profit] margins have been compressed so much that they have to save money. It just makes sense.”