Paramus Store Has Bulb or Battery For Any Occasion

As federal regulations phase out incandescent lightbulbs over the next few years and new energy-efficient technologies to replace them continue to be developed, the market for lightbulbs can be confusing for consumers.

Tom Davis and Batteries Plus Bulbs, located on Route 17 south in Paramus just past the Ridgewood Ave exit, aim to shed a light on the changing options and help people find what's best for them.

"What we try to do is simplify it for the consumer," Davis, a Ridgewood resident, said.

Davis opened Batteries Plus in Paramus a year ago this month. Since then, they have helped local residents through power outages from Hurricane Sandy and won the company's award for best new store in 2012. Now the store is adding "bulbs" to their name to emphasize their selection of more than 10,000 different lightbulbs.

Batteries Plus Bulbs carries a wide variety of energy-efficient lighting options, including halogen, CFL and LED bulbs which use far fewer watts of power to operate but still produce the same amount of lumens — the unit measuring light — as traditional bulbs. They also carry incandescent bulbs which have not yet been banned.

While newer bulbs like LEDs are more expensive than incandescents, the reduced cost of operating and their long lifespan mean that they will end up being a cheaper option on the longterm, according to Davis. An LED bulb can cost 80 percent less to operate each year than an incandescent bulb and will last between 15 and 20 years, he said.

Of course, the store is still also offering its selection of more than 30,000 different batteries, too. Davis said they can can supply the right battery for just about any device, from phones and laptops upto RVs and buses. The company's proprietary search engine allows them to find the correct battery for anything, using details like a car's model and year to find the exact one needed.

"We want to make sure we find the right battery for the right solution," Davis said.

The store's vast selection is accompanied by an attention to customer service, Davis said. 

"It's kind of a different store," he said. "You can't just come in and browse around because the batteries all look the same. Our mantra is that we want to get the right solution for the customer."