Would you take an ice cooler filled with food and beverages on a camping trip and leave the lid wide open? If you did, the ice would melt allowing the cold air around the product to escape raising the temperature and resulting in spoiled food.

One remedy would be to make stops at every gas station or convenience store along the way and keep buying more bags of ice to continue filling the cooler. But this could be a very expensive choice and one that is quite laborious.Glass door merchandising cases are a growing trend in retail, owing to the reduced energy costs for stores and the extended shelf life for products.

A more realistic solution would be to close the lid. With the lid closed, the cold air couldn’t escape. This is similar to a refrigerator at home. You wouldn’t leave the door wide open allowing the holding temperature to drop and cause the food inside to deteriorate.

Then why do we use open produce cases and allow much of the cold air to escape? The air curtain on a produce case fluctuates and can be broken if there is a barrier obstruction. Therefore, a percentage of cold air can escape from the case.

Air curtains do work if the refrigeration rules are followed. But in the real world, retail store employees are salespeople who have but one objective in mind — to sell a lot of produce.

One of the common causes of air curtain interference is stocking produce above the designated load level. But show me a produce manager who wants to limit sales. It’s only natural to load product on displays aggressively. As the old produce saying goes, “Pile it high and watch them buy.”  

One of the most active produce trends today is the use of glass door merchandising cases. These units are being installed by retailers at a very rapid pace for several cost-saving reasons as well as an improved visual presentation.

Doug Weikert, produce supervisor and buyer for Coborn’s Inc. in St. Cloud, MN, said, “There is energy savings with less cooling costs in cases. No reduction in sales where glass door merchandising has been installed and no dehydration issues with produce. Less overall shrink.”

Jeff Tomassetti, produce director for Buhler’s in Wooster, OH, added, “We love the door cases at our Milltown, Ohio store. We have seen about a 20 percent lift in our juice sales, 5 percent lift in vegan and organic behind the doors. It has cut down the shrink in our bagged salads due to a controlled environment. It’s really hard to give an actual number on what the energy savings are, but since we converted our entire dairy department to doors and 52 feet in produce, we are definitely saving energy in our store. We love the doors and plan on using them in future remodels in our produce department. Our glass doors are hinged so that two doors open from the inside to stock the section very easily, which is more user friendly for our sales clerks.”

There are many benefits in the use of glass door cases. For example, the vertical height of the cases allows for additional space to stock produce with more desirable inventory control.

The doors hold cold air inside, which maintains the proper temperature and gives product a longer shelf life. There is a 20 percent reduction in shrink on items inside the cases. Packaged salads can experience up to 30 percent less shrink.

Glass door cases can result in as much as a 70 percent reduction in energy costs. There is less maintenance and fewer service calls required. Less wear on refrigeration compressors and replacement parts are also a huge cost savings.

Mark Chenoweth, president of Carlson AirFlo Merchandising Systems in Brooklyn Park, MN, stated, “AirFlo has been the forefront on developing glass door merchandising solutions to keep product faced and easily accessible to help prevent shrink from excessive product being loaded into the deep cases. Product must be brought forward to the customer with merchandising equipment. Standard shelving can create issues with the shopping process and excess inventory. Another element is the use of LED lighting. The clarity of LED makes product pop behind glass, whereas standard fluorescents can make product look washed out.”

Growing trends in the merchandising of fresh produce require instant recognition today. New equipment is constantly being innovated.  

Competition is intense and always moving forward to capture larger portions of the sales pie. Many retailers are also recognizing the glass door merchandising trend and are very engaged in installing the units aggressively.