Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

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Alpha8472
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Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

It was over 100 degrees today in many parts of Northern California. The stores seems to be skimping on the air conditioning.

It was almost uncomfortably warm at Walmart and some malls seemed to be stuffy as well.

Is everyone cutting costs now? It was very unpleasant trying to shop under these conditions. The stores are trying to save a few bucks, but customers end up leaving sooner. Stores are losing out on valuable sales.

The mall and other stores used to be a great place to cool off. However, now it is a place you just want to leave.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 21st, 2022, 11:51 pm It was over 100 degrees today in many parts of Northern California. The stores seems to be skimping on the air conditioning.

It was almost uncomfortably warm at Walmart and some malls seemed to be stuffy as well.

Is everyone cutting costs now? It was very unpleasant trying to shop under these conditions. The stores are trying to save a few bucks, but customers end up leaving sooner. Stores are losing out on valuable sales.

The mall and other stores used to be a great place to cool off. However, now it is a place you just want to leave.
That is odd as it barely broke 85 in Reno. We deserve a break for as long as we can keep out of fire season.

There may be a shortage of air conditioner parts and/or qualified personnel to perform preventative maintenance, repairs, or inspections.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by Brian Lutz »

There is probably also pressure from PG&E for businesses to reduce air conditioning, as they have previously warned of potential rolling blackouts if power grid capacity is exceeded.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by pseudo3d »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 21st, 2022, 11:51 pm It was over 100 degrees today in many parts of Northern California. The stores seems to be skimping on the air conditioning.

It was almost uncomfortably warm at Walmart and some malls seemed to be stuffy as well.

Is everyone cutting costs now? It was very unpleasant trying to shop under these conditions. The stores are trying to save a few bucks, but customers end up leaving sooner. Stores are losing out on valuable sales.

The mall and other stores used to be a great place to cool off. However, now it is a place you just want to leave.
Every time I read about the restaurant and retail in NorCal it reads like a horror show...
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by ClownLoach »

Brian Lutz wrote: June 22nd, 2022, 8:28 am There is probably also pressure from PG&E for businesses to reduce air conditioning, as they have previously warned of potential rolling blackouts if power grid capacity is exceeded.
BINGO! PG&E and SCE both have forced major stores into "demand response" events where when the temps go up the AC goes off. They offer a nice incentive that gets the corporate cubicle dwellers who never actually work in a store to sign up, without realizing that they are forced to participate in the program basically for an eternity. And if the store hasn't replaced all their lights with LED then they're asked to turn off at least 30% of the lighting.

I had to move heaven and Earth to get my company to pull this program. Customers were walking in at night and due to lack of light they thought we had closed already so they were leaving empty handed. I insisted that this was a "safety hazard" due to the dim lighting which was the only way out of the agreement.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

So that is why Pak N Save replaced all of their light bulbs with LEDs. The light fixtures are ancient, but they replaced the fluorescent tubes.

I also noticed that Walmart stores in my area also replaced the fluorescent tubes. Now the lights are brighter and have a harsh blue tint. They used to have warm soothing light.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on June 26th, 2022, 6:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by Greggo »

This is happening here in Texas too. A friend and I saw Top Gun in a mall movie theater a couple weekends ago and by the end we were sticking to the leather recliners. The rest of the mall was even worse. We went into one store and asked the clerk what was up. She said it had been like for a few weeks and that they had contacted management multiple times. She had started asking customers to call the mall office, as well. We actually cut our trip short because of this so they’re not really doing shops and restaurants that are already struggling any favor. We were seriously sweating. It was that warm.

This was at Lakeline Mall in Austin, a Simon property.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Was in a Taco Bell today with no air conditioning. Strip mall location with no drive through. Brutal in there. I really felt for the employees. The one who was passing orders out was still very friendly and polite, despite the obvious discomfort.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

My friends who work at Walmart say that working conditions are made even worse because the break room is uncomfortably hot. It was about 80 degrees. Also the stock room is hot too. These stores are losing customers and employees. The working conditions are making people quit in an already tight labor market.

This lack of air conditioning is not present at all stores. I found a Walmart Neighborhood Market that was reasonably cool. However, that was probably due to all of their aisles of open refrigerators.

Even at night when it is cool outside, the interior of my local Walmart seems warm. When I went outside it was cool. The store seemed like a heat magnet.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on June 29th, 2022, 12:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lack Of Air Conditioning At Stores

Post by Super S »

I haven't noticed this during our recent heat wave. But I do sometimes encounter convenience stores where they have A/C shut off and refrigeration that is questionable.

I have seen some stores in my area converting to LED lighting. While some stores have done a thorough conversion with everything including signs and parking lot lights, there are a lot of mish-mash conversions which involve nothing more than sticking LED tubes in existing fixtures, while retaining old mercury vapor fixtures in other areas. And there are some stores which have not converted anything.
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