Reeds Ferry Market

In 2005, small business owner Sam Safa, proprietor of the Reeds Ferry Market (previously Merrimack Village Variety) was looking to trim expenses anywhere he could. In the world of independent retail, margins are thin and quantity is king. Many businesses like Mr. Safa’s rely heavily on the sales of cold beverages, and his own store has a massive drinks cooler. He was made aware of NRM’s energy efficiency solutions, which are hyper-focused on walk-in coolers, walk-in freezers, and reach-in coolers.

NRM informed Mr. Safa they could likely cut his cooler and freezer’s energy consumption by 40-60%, thus drastically reducing his electric bill, but he was skeptical at first.

“A lot of companies offer to save you money and don’t,” he said. However, when the utility company offered 50% incentives for Sam to undertake the energy efficiency project, he knew NRM was the real deal.

NRM was able to upgrade components of both Mr. Safa’s beverage cooler and his freezer. These upgrades ranged from CoolTrol®, an award-winning smart controls system that adapts your cooler or freezer’s operation to your specific business needs, motors replaced with high-efficiency models, anti-sweat door heater controls, and an air economizer.

All of the controls are manufactured and tested in our state-of-the-art facility, and then installed by licensed, in-house technicians, which made the whole process quick and painless.

Mr. Safa noticed energy savings from day one, and the entire solution paid for itself in full within 1.5 years. In particular, he noticed significant savings in the winter as a result of the economizer, reducing the system’s runtimes by 60% during those months. His electric bill has been trimmed by roughly $2,400 per year. In the 13 years he’s had NRM’s controls and upgrades, he has recouped roughly $30,750 in profits and nearly 280,000 kWh in energy.

In 2018, Mr. Safa elected to upgrade all of the refrigerated-space lighting to LEDs with NRM’s help. These upgrades, too, were eligible for 50% incentives from the utility company. The LEDs will provide him with another $2,000 in savings per year moving forward.