How Parking Lots with Good Lighting Bring More Evening Customers to Local Businesses

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Key takeaways

• Well-planned parking lot lighting helps the customer feel safer and more comfortable staying up later.
• Bright, even lighting can increase evening foot traffic and sales for local businesses.
• Bad lighting turns away walk-in customers and creates more risk, liability and negative reviews.
• A professional parking lot lighting installation gives you better light quality, lower energy costs, and fewer maintenance issues.

Why Parking Lot Lighting is Important More than What You Think

Your customer's experience begins the moment they become a parking area, and not when they grab the door handle.

A dark lot with spotty lights, flickering lamps or dark corners feels abandoned. People notice. I still recall having driven up to two pharmacies across the street from one another. Same brand, same hours. One had a very well-lit, bright parking lot with good signage, and people walking around. The other looked half closed. I did not even think about it. I parked where I felt safer.

That small decision occurs for your business every evening. Good lighting quietly communicates care, order and reliability. Poor lighting is suggestive of shortcuts. Which message do you want your curb appeal to send?

How Better Parking Lot Lighting Drives More Evening Customers

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When your lot is obviously lit, drivers can see entrances and exits, as well as open spaces easily without stress. That alone lowers friction.

Picture your own place before and after upgraded lighting solutions.

Before: customers circle, fail to make it on the driveway or wonder if you are still open.

After: the building, signage, walkway are on the contrast & folks pull in without hesitation. 

Restaurants, gyms, and clinics feel better with the outside looking-in.

Once the people feel safe walking back to their car, they stay longer. They go down one more aisle, ordering dessert or squeezing in a quick add-on service. Over time, that additional comfort manifests itself in more tickets taken on evenings and more repeat visits.

Safety, Security and Liability: The Dangers of a Dark Parking Lot

In poor light, you do not just lose sales as you increase risk.

Dark corners encourage loitering and small criminal behavior such as car break-in or vandalism. Lighting is a case in point, as police departments and security consultants frequently browse various websites for bright light, even lighting has been suggested as an easy way to encourage potential criminals to think twice. They prefer shadows. You do not want shadows.

The National Crime Prevention Council's Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidance states that appropriate design and application of lighting reduces areas for hiding and increases natural surveillance in parking spaces. Its recommendations for bright and even illumination around entrances, walkways and parking spaces are very similar to the way successful businesses light their lots after dark.

There is even the physical side. Customers and employees cannot see the ground if they fail to see curbs, potholes, or ice. One trip and fall down a poorly lit parking area can result in a claim, increased insurance costs, and a negative review. I have heard an owner tell me, "It was one light only." That one light stood over the exact spot where somebody slipped.

Design Principles to Draw Customers to Parking Lot Lighting

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You really don't need the brightness of the stadium. You need to have clear even light where people walk and drive.

Think in terms of comforts regarding brightness. Enough to see faces, license plates and obstacles , enough to not blind you to the point your eyes feel alternately threatened and between that uncomfortable state. Industry guidelines discuss foot-candle levels, but you need not get fancy. If you're looking down the pole and bright spots appear, with dark spacing between, there is a need for work done on coverage.

Color temperature is also important. Neutral white LEDs tend to offer superior visibility to the orange-tinted older lamps. It aids pedestrians to read signage, recognize people and become oriented. Fixture placement, pole height, and aiming all work together so your lot will look intentional in its design rather than random in appearance.

The Business Case: Does a Parking Lot Lighting Upgrade Pay for Itself?

From a business point of view, lighting is not a cost. It is an asset which can remunerate you.

Older metal halide or high-pressure sodium fixtures burn more energy and require frequent lamp Changing. Many properties that switch to energy-efficient LED lighting experience lighting energy use reduction of 40 to 70 percent. That is not imaginary money every month.

Longer fixture life also means fewer lift rentals and emergency calls due to half of the lights going dark. When you add lower utility bills to lower maintenance, and even a slight increase in evening foot traffic the pay back period often appears to be shorter than owners anticipate. I have walked through numbers with clients whose project realized that it almost paid for itself in a few years time.

Parking Lot Lighting & Brand Image

Like it or not, your lot is part of your brand.

A clean and well-lit parking lot will send a message to people that you care. It accommodates everything else you do with cleanliness, landscaping and interior ambiance. If you drove past your own building at night, would you have a curiosity to stop or would you be a bit uneasy?

On busy roads a lit parking with good illumination around the storefront stands out from dark competitors. That alone is enough to attract some undecided drivers. Lighting creates an impression of order and care, as well as lines up with brands that wish to be perceived as safe, family-friendly or professional. Customers seldom say, "I came here because of the lighting," but often shun places that are dark.

Businesses That Benefit Most from Parking Lot Lighting Improvements

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Some properties experience a greater lift than others when they improve lighting.

High traffic local businesses such as restaurants, strip centers, grocery stores and 24 hour gyms rely heavily on evening visits. I worked with a small strip mall and several of the tenants complained of slow nights. After a full parking lot lighting installation with LED fixtures, brighter walkways, and better signage lighting, tenants reported more walk-in traffic and fewer complaints about safety.

Multi-tenant plazas and service enterprises with evening appointments benefit also. When someone has to walk from a salon or dental office or even cut a pet's hair, if they come out later in the evening, the walk to the car for their car is often their last impression. A bright calm lot helps them relax and remember the service and not the stress of getting to their vehicle.

Planning Your Parking Lot Lighting Project

If you are not sure where to start, then walk your lot at night.

Stand where customers and employees park Look for there are dark corners, have the glare going on, eyes or fixtures are doing nothing. Ask staff where they are most uncomfortable. Their answers would surprise you, maybe.

Then decide what is important for you at this moment. Is that ensuring safety, reducing energy costs or improving curb appeal to attract better tenants? A good contractor can help you prioritize and design around what your goals are and how to phase work so that you don't trap yourself. In many locations, utilities provide rebates on implementation of energy-efficient lighting, which can mitigate the initial cost and reduce the length of payback.

Common Parking Lots Lighting Mistakes That Drive Customers Away

Too much light can be just as bad as too little light.

Some lots bathe in intense light that causes bad glare and light pollution for neighbors. Drivers squint, pedestrians have an exposed feeling, and the entirety of the place is not pleasant. That is not good lighting.

Another error is patchwork upgrades. Swapping a few fixtures here and there over the years can make you quite a bit of mixed colors, unevenness of brightness and a messy look. Ignoring controls is another problem. Lights on full power for the whole night are a waste and lights that turn off too early leave late customers in the dark.

Thoughtful controls, such as photocells or timers, keep lit parking available at times when people want it and it saves money at times when the people do not.

How to Measure the Slew of Better Parking Lot Lighting

If you invest in lighting, you should know if it does work or not.

Start with your baseline. Look at the sales in the evening, foot traffic and incident reports from the prior year. After they have upgraded they track the same numbers. Even a simple POS report can tell if more customers visit for or spend more after dark.

Listen to the reviews and incidental comments. People often reference "safe parking" or "well-lit" without having to ask for it. Also keep an eye out for changes in criminal activity, security calls or slip and fall calls. When you combine those trends together with reduced energy bills, you have a bigger picture of payback and long-term worth. It is not only all about being bright. It has to do with the way the people act once they feel safer outside the doors of yours.

FAQs

Very good question, how bright should my lit parking lot be for the safety of your customers?

You want sufficient daylight so that people can clearly see faces, vehicles and ground surfaces, and so that the light is not too bright. Refrain from concentrating on driving lanes or parking spaces or walkways too. If you are feeling bright circles under poles, with dark holes between them, you probably need a better spacing and some better aiming or fixture choice.

How do LED parking lot lighting compare with my old parking lot fixtures?

LED lighting typically consumes less energy (electricity), has longer life, and it provides more consistent lighting than old lamps. You obtain better colors to use in terms of visual and ambiance and you decline the dangers of outages frequently experienced. Over the long-term, the lower energy and maintenance costs often outweigh the greater initial price.

Increased sales: Will more lighting of my parking lot really boost my sales in the evening?

Lighting alone is not going to make a weak business stronger, but it can eliminate a barrier. When people feel safer and more comfortable they are more willing to stop and stay longer as well as to return. Many businesses report increased amounts of evening foot traffic, as well as improved reviews, following improvements to exterior lighting, especially in areas of concern for safety.

How long does a typical parking lot lighting installation take?

It depends on the lot size and number of poles and also whether you reuse existing wiring. Small lots may require a few nights of work, larger the approach to plastics construction plazas can take a long time. Good contractors make allowances for your busiest hours, often trying to do the work either early morning or late evening to minimise disruption.

Of course, how do I know if I need a complete overhaul of my lighting or just some replacement?

Examine age, condition and performance. If most fixtures are old, mismatched or failing, a complete redesign might provide greater results and energy efficiency. If you only have a few dark areas or damaged fixtures, point replacements may be sufficient. A good night walk on quick call-to a lighting professional can help you to decide.