Convenience Stores

High specification, very quiet units for the new style of convenience store and garage mini-market.

The convenience store sector has experienced significant growth over the last few years which has created an ever increasing demand for refrigeration equipment. Consumers are demanding much higher levels of convenience and quality from their food – with the emphasis on immediate consumption - which means more chilled snacks, cold beers, wines and soft drinks and fresh produce. This need for convenience has also required that the location of stores has changed, with greater demand for ‘local’ stores and petrol filling station outlets. This trend looks set to continue, at least in the near future, with all the large supermarket chains continuing to open smaller, in-town stores. Petrol stations also continue to develop new or  additional food retailing space, often in partnership with major supermarket players.

These trends place particular demands on the type of refrigeration equipment required and Searle, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of high-quality cooling products, offers a wide range of solutions for convenience store refrigeration. In line with its mainstream supermarket business, where it is a preferred supplier to all major UK chains, Searle’s high quality products are widely specified, sometimes exclusively.

Convenience store refrigeration equipment needs to be quick and easy to install to match the fast-developing nature of the sector. It needs to be compact, because many of the sites are small and operators need to maximise their retail space. It needs to be versatile to suit changing display layouts and temperature requirements (to achieve this requirement, several condensing units tend to be used rather than a central plant system). Above all, because the sites tend to be in urban and residential areas, the refrigeration equipment needs to be low-noise. Local Authority Environmental Health Officers, as part of the planning process, are placing ever-more demanding noise requirements on refrigeration equipment.

Searle’s extensive portfolio of standard products for this market-place includes a range of low-noise and ultra-low-noise condensing units. These have been developed in conjunction with major players in the market to exactly match the particularly demanding requirements. Sound levels have been independently tested and certified so that product selections can be made in complete confidence that noise criteria can met.

Product Offerings

Searle offers a number of ranges of condensing units. The compact, highly-efficient NXS / NXR and twin compressor N2CU ranges offer capacities of 0.6 kW to 44kW across low and medium temperatures, with a choice of refrigerants (including R404A, R507 and R407C). With noise levels down to 33dB(A), the range is ideal for use in any application where space and noise could be limiting factors. Larger capacities (up to 95kW) at similar noise levels are offered by the HCU range. Lower noise units are continually being researched and developed, resulting in the very low noise NCU-SQ 'HUSH' unit, now available, with laboratory tested noise levels of 32dB(A) @10m.

All Searle’s condensing units are pre-wired and offer fast and easy installation, minimal maintenance and low lifetime costs. The fully weatherproof units are suitable for floor or roof mounting. Smaller units may be wall mounted or, where space is at a premium, double stacked. Wall brackets, stacking frames and vandal-proof guards are also available.