The Heschong Mahone Group, a California-based consultancy that specialises in energy-efficient building technologies, found that sales were as much as 40% higher in stores lit with skylights.
And the shoes are displayed at the United Nude's new dark flagship store lighted like works of art.
Many convenience stores have shut their doors after ending up with nothing to sell, a minor but telling sign of the disintegration of normal life in a city where the stores light up almost every street.
New stores, facades, lighting, walkways, planters and downtown concerts that draw up to 8,000 people are rejuvenating the business district.
Frank Oz directs briskly on sets and locations that would make a department store lighting section look murky.
Both the shiny-eyed brunette behind the counter (central casting for a silent-movie heroine rescued by Mounties) and the store lighting (much of it from handmade lamps with bone china shades, $195) are warm and easy on the eyes.
Because the fixed costs of running a big store – lighting, heating, rates, minimum staffing levels, etc – are high, such declines in sales would hit profits seriously if action is not taken.
But their marathon was more tedious: stripping the Giants shirts from mannequins and dressing them in Jets gear; restocking three hundred T-shirts, three hundred sweatshirts, and five hundred caps; and, as a final flourish, switching the store lighting from blue to green.
Howard said simply replacing in-store lighting with LEDs would cut the company's global energy bill by about 10percentnt and save around €15m a year, while also freeing up staff from having to more frequently replace halogen spotlights.
