In recent years you completed a number of comparable projects in field of sports and retail. What makes the uniqueness of The Pro Shop?
The entire The Pro Shop is ERCO lighting. For America, this is unique.
You decided for the luminaires Light Board, Optec, Opton and Starpoint by ERCO. Please tell us more about the advantages of a lighting-concept fully based on LED!
As I mentioned, Seattle has a very stringent energy code that limits severely the amount of electricity consumed, even in retail. Using almost all LED, we were able to maximize our quota, and this allowed us to use exceptionally bright luminaires where we needed them, at the cash register. This is the last point customers see their items, and they look amazing. LED reduces the amount of maintenance needed. At 4 meters in the air, maintenance would need to be done by a man on a tall ladder, closing the retail space below and around the ladder. This has been minimized. LED also reduced the size of the HVAC unit needed, resulting in a cost savings for the client.
How does the influence of lighting increase in branding, particularly in retail and especially in the segment of sports?
In sports apparel, it is ALL about your team colors, and they must appear true. Color rendering is vital. As you can imagine, professional sports team apparel is not inexpensive … the better it looks, the more sales you have.
Let`s take a glance into the future: if you imagine a sport retail store in ten years – how might it look like?
I believe retail is moving towards instant customization. In the perfect world, you’ll be able to try something on and see what it will look like in daylight, inside and during the evening.