On 07/02/2012 10:29, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In ,
Adrian writes:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Yes. Aim on lighting up the goods well. Look at using perimeter
wall washers, which can be very effective for goods around the
walls, zero glare. A light coloured decoration scheme would mean
reflected light will probably be enough for general lighting in
isles without needing much additional, except perhaps some task
lighting for areas like the till and to catch customers' faces
well if using CCTV.

No aisles to worry about - the place is fairly small.
I had thought about the 'floodlight' approach. Ceilings are reasonably
high, so should be possible to get a reasonable angle on the floods so
as to avoid people standing in their own shadow.

No plans for CCTV .... yet!


Could retain the existing lights as cleaner's lighting, if you
don't need them for the shop's operation and they're not too
unsightly.


Might be a plan.
The current fluoro tubes are grubby and of unknown vintage - so maybe
we'll clean / replace them first and see what that does.

Thanks