Raymour & Flanigan Takes Steps To Reduce Its Carbon Footprint

Furniture World Magazine

Juice Energy, the New York-based electricity supplier recently signed a 12-month agreement with one of the fastest growing furniture retailers in the Northeast, Raymour & Flanigan. Raymour & Flanigan, is turning to Juice to help them manage their electricity budgets and better manage costs. Juice’s approach to electricity supply couples custom strategies with renewable power to secure the lowest rates while at the same time helping clients to reduce their carbon footprints. The new partnership went into effect in January and covers all of Raymour & Flanigan’s New York State retail locations. The retailer is also taking steps towards reducing their carbon footprint by purchasing 10% of their energy from renewable sources such as wind. Sonny Rousell, VP of Real Estate / Construction for Raymour & Flanigan Furniture, says that Raymour & Flanigan selected Juice because of their unique methods: “Most of the utility companies we’ve worked with are pretty similar. Juice, however, was able to combine the opportunity to purchase green energy, and provide savings through a more hands-on approach to purchasing our electricity. This recent power purchase, through Juice, supports and enriches our internal green initiatives, and helped to establish an EPA Green Power Partnership commitment.” “Employing green practices is part of our mission to take care of our communities,” says CEO and President Neil Goldberg. “We support our customers’ concerns to be environmentally responsible.” Raymour & Flanigan opened a 41,000 square foot recycling center on their Liverpool, NY campus in June 2007 to process all the Styrofoam, cardboard and plastic packaging from their furniture sales. Considering their annual 2007 volume of furniture delivered—over 3.4 million pieces—the company’s 2007 efforts resulted in over 15.2 million pounds of packaging being diverted from Northeast landfills. Other Raymour & Flanigan green initiatives launched in 2007 include mixed office paper recycling and waste oil recycling. All the oil from company fleet vehicles is used in the new waste oil furnace to heat the 12,000 square foot garage of Raymour & Flanigan’s new transportation center on the main Liverpool campus. In 2008 Raymour & Flanigan will open its first Energy Star Rated facility. The company will continue its involvement in programs providing for Energy Management Systems in all store locations. Additionally, numerous lighting retrofit projects designed to significantly reduce energy consumption companywide, will also continue in 2008. Raymour & Flanigan’s partnership with Juice integrates effective electricity cost management and environmental commitments. With the help of their proprietary analytics, Juice Energy Advisors craft custom electricity purchasing strategies for their clients that can result in greater budget certainty when compared to more traditional utility contracts. “We’ve developed a better method to purchasing electricity, one that provides lower costs, green power solutions, and a much more hands-on approach to customer service,” said Juice’s Chief Operating Officer Deidre Lord, “We’re finding that businesses are anxious to get away from the antiquated methods of traditional retail electricity companies.” About Juice: Operating in deregulated markets, Juice tailors rate structures and products to improve clients’ financial performance and carbon footprint. Juice brings energy portfolio management, transparency and new accountability measures, for the highest return at the lowest cost. www.aboutjuice.com About Raymour & Flanigan: Raymour & Flanigan Furniture® provides exceptional customer service, great furniture, proven quality, and total commitment to customers in seven states in the Northeast through 76 locations and over 4100 Associates. Established in 1947, the company remains a family-owned business headquartered in Liverpool, New York and was named “2007 Newsmaker of the Year” by Home Furnishings Business. Now the eleventh Largest Conventional Furniture and Mattress Retailer in the US, according to May 28, 2007 Furniture Today listing, Raymour & Flanigan continues our commitment of building the preeminent retail furniture brand in the Northeast and beyond.