SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets on Monday opened the doors of its Fogelsville, Pa., superstore, the first LEED-registered grocery store in its 163-store footprint.
Upon approval from the U.S. Green Building Council, the 65,800 square-foot facility will be the first “green” grocery store (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in the Lehigh Valley, Weis said. Weis Markets celebrated the milestone with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony and $50,000 check presentation to the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley.
“Weis is excited to welcome residents of Fogelsville and the surrounding communities to our new store, which meets longstanding grocery demand in the area,” Kurt Schertle, executive vice president of Weis Markets, said in a statement. “We are proud to open the doors of this state of the art facility, which Weis invested $23 million to build. Sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint are major initiatives for Weis, and we look forward to officially receiving LEED-certification for this store from the U.S. Green Building Council.”
More news: Weis Expands Food-Waste Program
The store is seeking to reduce or mitigate its environmental impact in the following areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, material selection and indoor environmental quality. The building was designed to meet or exceed these requirements and plans to have its final LEED designation in 2013.
The Fogelsville store features advanced refrigeration technologies to reduce refrigerant emissions by 60%, compared to the typical supermarket. These systems decrease the store’s impact on the ozone layer and climate change. Additionally, the store has skylights to provide natural light and reduce electric lighting needs, energy efficient fluorescent lighting with light dimming controls, and features an outdoor landscape of native and well-adapted plants and trees to completely eliminate the need for irrigation.
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