August 14, 2026
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As Shoppers Show Fear of Retail Parking Lots at Night, Is This a Fixable Problem?
When we discuss problems facing consumers, brands, and retailers today, safety concerns often take a backseat — and if they are discussed, online scams, skimmed credit cards, and in-store threats usually take precedence.
However, according to recent data from LiveView Technologies (LVT), nearly half of Americans (46%) — including a majority (52%) of women, and 41% of men — feel unsafe in large, open-air retail parking lots after dark.
“Men and women alike are concerned about their safety in parking lots, especially after dark, which could impact overall store foot traffic and sales,” said Matt Kelley, SVP of Business and Market Development at LVT.
Among the statistical findings produced by the LVT/Harris survey:
- Fear isn’t restricted to nighttime in retail parking lots: Even during the day, one-quarter of women (25%) and 17% of men indicated they felt unsafe in retail parking lots even during the day.
- Generations exhibited different degrees of anxiety: The results showed a bit of bookending here, with the number Gen Z respondents saying they felt unsafe while visiting retail parking lots after dark (49%) with baby boomers (53%) than the slightly lower numbers provided by millennials (40%) and members of Gen X (44%). Concerning daytime safety, perhaps surprisingly Gen Z exhibited the most anxiety over retail parking lots (30%), with all other age cohorts coming in at 19%.
- Feelings of being unsafe also show geographical difference: Residents of the Midwest exhibited the greatest uncertainty about being in a retail parking lot at night (52%), followed by the South (47%), Northeast (43%), and West (42%).
- Security cameras can help, at least to some degree: More than three-quarters of respondents (77%) indicated that they were “more likely to be mindful of their own actions and behave responsibly” if security cameras were notably present. However, a more critical view of this data might suggest it’s possible that those who might engage in theft or violence in retail parking lots after dark may not be adequately represented in polling.
Speaking of solutions, Kelley offered a few remarks on that subject:
“Retailers can better secure parking lots and increase the sense of safety by ensuring optimal lighting, establishing visibility with human guards or through video security solutions, and offering assistance to customers who may appreciate a store associate accompanying them to their vehicle. Proactive communication around a store’s safety efforts can help alleviate shopper fears around safety at all hours,” he said.
Other tips offered by Consumer Reports on the subject of staying safe in retailers’ parking lots included: being choosy about where you park, preferring populated and well-lit areas; removing items from view that could incite theft and locking your vehicle; being totally aware of your surroundings, and not keeping your attention on your smartphone while walking to and from your car; refraining from dallying and walking with purpose with your keys in hand; and to always assume you are being watched, with that same phone at the ready to dial 911 in case of emergency, among others.
BrainTrust
Nicholas Morine
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Do you believe retailers could (or should) be doing more to secure their parking lots after dark? What might these solutions look like?
How much responsibility for parking lot security after dark rests upon retailers versus local law enforcement. Could a better balance or co-operation be achieved?
Which retailers stand out as going above-and-beyond in regards to parking lot security? Conversely, which retailers are failing on this score?
Poll
If this is how people genuinely feel – and we’d need to explore the actual questions asked to assess how valid and representative the survey is – then it is an issue. There are many solutions from security patrols and guards to better lighting to more security camera monitoring. What gets deployed, however, really depends on the benefits relative to the costs. The harsh reality is that a store that gets incredibly low traffic late at night is unlikely to go all out with security measures. That said, retailers also need to take into account that the parking lot can be part of the overall retail experience.
“If this is how people genuinely feel”
This would seem to be an excellent time for our observation that people often respond as they “ought ” to…particularly when the information comes from a company that sells security equipment!
I’m not convinced the data supports the conclusion that parking lot safety concerns reduce store traffic and sales. If shoppers feel unsafe after dark, they may simply shift their shopping to daylight hours. That’s traffic redistribution, not necessarily traffic loss. Before retailers start adding significant security expense, they should understand whether safety concerns are actually costing them visits or merely changing when those visits occur. Examining their store traffic trends would make this abundantly clear. Retailers should take reasonable steps to provide a safe environment, but the responsibility gets complicated when parking lots are controlled by landlords, mall operators or municipalities. And pushing the burden to already stretched local authorities likely won’t change the situation.
“Fixable” ? only to the extent that this is a legitimate fear…and I would argue it is not – at least not in general – so “no”.
(And of the various pseudo claims put forth here, I’m more concerned with the “afraid in daytime” one, since that eliminates the normal, obvious solution to the first concern.)
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If this is how people genuinely feel – and we’d need to explore the actual questions asked to assess how valid and representative the survey is – then it is an issue. There are many solutions from security patrols and guards to better lighting to more security camera monitoring. What gets deployed, however, really depends on the benefits relative to the costs. The harsh reality is that a store that gets incredibly low traffic late at night is unlikely to go all out with security measures. That said, retailers also need to take into account that the parking lot can be part of the overall retail experience.
“If this is how people genuinely feel”
This would seem to be an excellent time for our observation that people often respond as they “ought ” to…particularly when the information comes from a company that sells security equipment!
I’m not convinced the data supports the conclusion that parking lot safety concerns reduce store traffic and sales. If shoppers feel unsafe after dark, they may simply shift their shopping to daylight hours. That’s traffic redistribution, not necessarily traffic loss. Before retailers start adding significant security expense, they should understand whether safety concerns are actually costing them visits or merely changing when those visits occur. Examining their store traffic trends would make this abundantly clear. Retailers should take reasonable steps to provide a safe environment, but the responsibility gets complicated when parking lots are controlled by landlords, mall operators or municipalities. And pushing the burden to already stretched local authorities likely won’t change the situation.
“Fixable” ? only to the extent that this is a legitimate fear…and I would argue it is not – at least not in general – so “no”.
(And of the various pseudo claims put forth here, I’m more concerned with the “afraid in daytime” one, since that eliminates the normal, obvious solution to the first concern.)