RE: ENERGY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS The open door debate continues to generate heat. Amy North speaks to Jeannie Dawkins, director of the Close the Door campaign, to find out what success she has had to date

Retailers’ green credentials are being on the pavement in front of it. Having the “We knew it was important to gain hard blown out of shop entrance doors which heating on at home and leaving windows data to show the impact closing the door they continue to leave open. While many and doors wide open just wouldn’t be done, could make but we had no idea what it claim they are working hard to improve she explains, so decided to tackle the issue would show. Our first figures came from the energy efficiency of their overall herself. The difficulty came when proving the and while they were just operations, including their stores, the the benefits to retailers, who she claims “are guesstimates they thought that 20% of act of leaving a shop’s doors open during often very conservative and slow to embrace heating energy was being lost out of the the winter and running the heaters change”. door. After that we got the engineering above it has been proven to be incredibly What ensued was the launch of Close department at Cambridge University to do inefficient. the Door and a major piece of research some independent work on this and they The debate over whether or not retailers by Cambridge University which revealed found that it was in fact 50% of the entire should close their doors or leave them open shocking results. energy was being wasted through this. If has rumbled on for many years, with the arguments swinging back and forth between energy efficiency (and therefore financial) gains and the impact on sales. The issue, understandably, comes to the forefront at this time of year as the temperature drops and the Christmas shopping season gets underway. So what has changed over the past few years? With the debate gaining national media coverage, the most noticeable campaign is Close the Door. Launched at the end of 2007 by Jeannie Dawkins, Margaret Mair and Sian Reid it advocates a closed door policy when heating or air conditioning is being used and actively approaches shops, restaurants and national chains encouraging them to get on board. It may seem like a bold stance to take by someone outside of the retail sector but it shows how much of an emotive issue this can be for those environmentally-minded customers. So what spurred Ms Dawkins to launch the campaign? It all started one winter in the below freezing temperatures when she noticed the heat from an open shop door had melted the snow and ice

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you multiply that by all of the shops in The rise of omnichannel retailing and energy consumption data of the shops is the country that is a massive amount,” she increased online sales also means the undeniably in favour of closing the door affirms. percentage of retailers’ costs represented when the heating or air conditioning is on Since then, the campaign has gained by store energy bills is decreasing, says Ms – Cambridge Toy Shop achieved average national reach as well as endorsements from Dawkins, which could mean the attention energy savings of 30% while Ryman saw an some of the highest government ministers, paid to them could be doing the same. impressive 54% saving. This was attributed including Boris Johnson, Vince Cable and Ed to the reduction in space heating load and Davey with many describing it as a ‘common Footfall: the impact eliminating the need to operate air curtains. sense’ move. So with such large savings on offer in However, the picture regarding footfall Offering his support to the campaign terms of energy efficiency, what is stopping is more complicated as it is notoriously Mr Davey said: “I thoroughly support Close other retailers getting on board? While the hard to measure. During the study different the Door’s objectives to save energy and simple act of closing a shop’s doors can methods were used to measure footfall at cut carbon emissions in shops with such a make heating and air conditioning systems the shops for open and closed doors. For simple measure. This is such an easy and more efficient, and the climate inside more closed doors people bunch together (as positive contribution retailers may make to comfortable for shoppers and staff alike, someone holds the door open) and the cut energy use significantly while reducing many are concerned about the potential measurement was taken with each door their fuel bills – and increasing the comfort impact it will have on footfall and ultimately opening not per person while the open of their staff and customers. I applaud the the bottom line. door measurements were taken per person, many stores of all types and sizes who have Offering its view on the debate, the allowing for misleading figures. Ms Dawkins adopted a closed door policy when using British Retail Consortium (BRC) told Retail notes that when the figure was adjusted heating or air conditioning, and urge those Environment: “The retail industry continues the footfall was up on both shops and the who haven’t to join the campaign now.” to lead the way in energy efficiency and research concluded that footfall was not Most notably the campaign has gained are constantly innovating to reduce waste adversely affected. She adds that dwell traction among some of the big players in energy use and cost. Retailers have seen time is also longer in shops with closed the retail sector with Marks & Spencer, John significant savings on their energy bills doors due to increased comfort which Lewis/Waitrose, Selfridges, Ryman, Travis from adopting a closed door policy and this accounts for increase in transaction rate, Perkins/ and among those is one of a number of low and zero cost however retailers are unwilling to share this signing up. measures retailers can undertake to avoid data meaning the evidence so far is only “It is great that we have some of the big waste energy use and associate cost. There anecdotal. names on board and there are also many is concern over the impact on consumer While not taking a side in the debate, the thousands of independent stores who do behaviour of a closed door policy and in Carbon Trust does offer advice to those close their doors and none of them would do some cases footfall is so high that it’s not a who, for whatever reasons, have decided to it if they lost money,” Ms Dawkins enthuses. viable solution to energy reduction.” keep their doors open. While the Carbon In addition, there are also thousands of The research conducted by Cambridge Trust suggests trying to keep external independent stores up and down the country University measured the energy efficiency doors open only at bust times, it notes in taking part. The sheer volume of smaller and footfall of the Cambridge Toy its energy management guide for retailers retailers on board, Ms Dawkins believes, is Shop – an independent toy retailer – that one solution is to install automatic or because they are much closer to their bills. and Ryman Stationery in the city. The revolving doors to help maintain the inside

26 RETAIL ENVIRONMENT | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 temperature while ensuring that shoppers without being at risk of losing their job. and personnel have easy access. There are very strong guidelines from These solutions may not be the cheapest CIBSE which any decent business would but Ms Dawkins maintains they can actually adhere to on different working temperatures help reduce costs over time as, similarly to (depending on how much you are moving). some other energy efficiency technologies, In order to comply the door would have retailers can be recompensed for the cost of to be closed in cold weather. There are installing them by savings on their energy businesses that aren’t looking after their bills. employees in this way,” Ms Dawkins says. And, advances in the technology means One solution to the open/closed door that a customer’s direction of travel can debate would be regulation. In 2008 New be determined on approach to the shop York Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a meaning the doors only open for those law prohibiting businesses from wasting entering the building as opposed to those energy by blasting air conditioning out of walking by. It is understood that Boots, one open doors onto city sidewalks to attract of the newest retailers to offer its support customers. to Close the Door, is set to trial one of these However, Ms Dawkins suspects this may solutions. not be a suitable way to enforce the policy in the UK, and can understand why it is not Employee welfare high on politicians’ agendas. Another aspect to the debate is the impact So going forward, what are her hopes leaving the door open in the summer or for the campaign? “Getting more retailers winter has on employees. Having previously on board and raising awareness of the Jeannie Dawkins, director, worked on the ground floor of a notable campaign and its benefits and approaching Close the Door Campaign store on Regent Street, I can vouch for just each of them at a senior management how cold it gets when the doors are left level,” she says. “This is a business friendly After graduating from open in the depths of winter despite above campaign – everyone benefits by closing the Cambridge University in door heating. While this is not necessarily door. 1980, Jeannie changed to law and trained as a barrister. representative of the broader retail sector, “Trying to make the link that getting She lived abroad in Brussels, employee comfort and welfare is worth the supply chain sorted is absolutely Paris and Tokyo before taking into consideration. fundamental and I can’t think of a company returning to Cambridge. She “While many are focusing on their that keeps its doors open while using founded Close the Door in supply chain what they don’t realise is that heating or air conditioning, that I wouldn’t 2007 with Sian Reid as a it continues all the way to the customer have a very good reason to be sceptical of in local initiative. This has now including in the actual shop. Quite often general ethical terms including further down become an award winning people working in the shops are young and the supply chain, whatever their claims. The national campaign. due to the economic climate they aren’t able shop is an ultimate interface between the to make any sort of criticisms or demands customers and the retailers.” RE

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