2019 is going to be a big year for design-build contractors as the construction delivery model continues to displace traditional architectural specification models. A strong national economy and emergency rebuilding efforts from record hurricane and wildfire seasons, demand for rapid construction is booming and will only continue to do so. Collaborative construction models are growing […]

Depending who asks, this is either the best or worst time to be in retail. It’s a challenging time for traditional retailers as competition from online shopping continues to eat into profits. It’s also a great time for retail, because of the unprecedented tools and opportunities available. For the first time, retailers can know their […]

It’s a tough time for traditional supermarkets. Competition from small-format grocers, C-stores, meal kit providers are all increasing, while consumers are coming into stores with ever higher expectations. The supermarkets that are succeeding are evolving their business models with more and more adding in-store hospitality areas. Hospitality areas—coffee shops, restaurants, beer gardens and [...]

Here’s a short list of things Millennials dislike: Grocery stores Survey after survey show the same findings: Millennials rate traditional supermarkets lower than all other generations. In an industry with razor-thin margins, this dissatisfaction could prove costly for grocery stores as other concepts and online competition elbow in on Millennials. Fortunately, there’s a longer list […]

Few things can cause a more bitter debate between contractors and architects than value engineering. The practice of reviewing specifications to determine cost-effective ways to complete a project has its defenders and detractors, but one thing that is for sure is that value engineering is being used more and more. Value engineering is supposed to […]

Callbacks. There’s nothing like them to suck the profits out of a project and damage your reputation for future projects at the same time. Fortunately, callbacks can be often be avoided. These four tips will help you steer clear of callbacks and keep customers satisfied with their lighting: Start with quality brands Using poorly designed […]

These days, it’s not enough to be an electrical contractor that only does installation work. With each passing year, specifying is becoming a larger portion of the job. This trend is likely to continue as the design-build construction model grows in popularity. In fact, 63 percent of electrical contractors say they are branching out from […]

2019 is going to be the year of the Millennials for supermarkets. Two decades into the eponymous millennium, members of Generation Y will finally outnumber Baby Boomers as the largest living generation in the United States. At the same time, Millennials are entering their prime spending years as more and more of them have children […]

Green building projects are growing each year and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. Between 2005 and 2014, the green construction industry skyrocketed from $3 billion a year to more than $80 billion (McGraw-Hill). New green construction and retrofit projects can take many forms, from formalized programs like LEED, to merely adhering […]

Installation—it’s where a job’s profit is made or lost. A quick and easy installation means you can move onto the next job and the next check, without worrying about costly callbacks or extra labor time chewing into your profit margins. You understand the importance of the installation process—and if you’ve ever substituted specified lighting products […]

Across the country, supermarkets are shrinking. Especially common in dense metro areas, smaller format stores are proving to be an effective growth area for the industry. Small-footprint stores like Trader Joe’s and Aldi are continuing their success and large-format chains like Walmart and Target are experimenting with smaller stores. When a grocery store is small, […]

What’s for dinner? That’s a question up to 80% of Americans can’t answer by 4 p.m. on a given day, according to food service data provider Food Genius. More and more, shoppers are walking into supermarkets, looking for dinner inspiration, rather than shopping with a set list. This gives supermarkets a tremendous opportunity to drive […]

As communities across the globe upgrade their infrastructure and transform into “smart cities,” municipal leaders are leveraging the lamppost as a key tool. Often overlooked in day-to-day life, lampposts are becoming more than mere illuminators of paths and roads—they are the foundation of smart cities. Smart cities rely on networks of sensors spread across the […]

Smart cities, intelligent cities, connected communities. No matter what you call them, cities and towns paired with information and communication technology built into the infrastructure are the future for communities all over the world. “Smart city” and the myriad of similar names are all loose terms for a city or community that uses sensor data […]

Amerlux, an award-winning design-and-manufacture lighting company, announced today it will deliver a private demonstration to Wakefern Food Corp about its game-changing supermarket solution that will make sales of high-margin perishables more appetizing for grocers. The LED maker will showcase the Fresh Color chip—which is incorporated into the company’s premium SPEQ track lights—during the [...]