I hate them…I mean they are always in the best spot to get out…I always wondered. Why have them at all? Why not just make the Emergency Exit a regular exit and put a fire alarm next to the door? It cant be any more expensive then rigging the door to set off the alarm when opened.
Stores and theatres have an interest in controlling how people move through them, the former to make sure everybody goes by the cash register when leaving and the latter to make sure everybody goes by the box office when entering. This concern for security and theft prevention extends to other businesses as well.
Security. It’s way to hard to secure every exit that is required for emergency escapes, if anybody can come and go through them.
You need many more emergency exits than regular exits because you need to move more people through them in a shorter time. They should also be placed closer to where the dense groups of people will be so the exiting time is shortened.
As Bryan Ekers says, this is not good normal policy. Most buildings want people to leave through a few monitored exits, and not have them enter at will. That’s why emergency exits are designed to be one way. In addition, emergency exits often exit directly out onto the street rather than having people move through the building, where they often can be induced to buy merchandise or use other facilities. The outside exits are often in alleys or other areas where security, lighting, signage and other normal amenities are not kept to the same levels as the regular exits would be, and they are often far from convenient to parking or transportation.
In short, emergency exits are extra exits to be used only rarely. They shouldn’t be the same exits as are normally used.