Now that we’ve drifted into urban legend country, here’s what I heard:
It’s the shopping carts.
In stores where the doors are next to the outside wall, the entrance door is also next to the wall so the carts can be wrangled in a straight line. If that means the entrance door is on the left, so be it. Of course, sometimes the cart area is to the right, and in some stores the carts are kept farther inside the store rather than along the wall, which accounts for the randomness of the whole thing.
Duplicate post.
One reason seems to be product security. I lived for years where a couple fo high-value retail shops like speed shops moved into abandoned grocery stores, and I can think of two specific examples where the in/out door action was reversed - deliberately - on the change. I think the thinking is that grab-and-run thieves, or nervous shoplifters, will try to use the wrong door and it’s one more barrier to them getting away. (I saw that happen once - guy grabbed an expensive gauge set and tried to run out, damn near knocked himself out on the wrong door.)
There also might be a cheap-ass maintenance issue. These doors open hundreds if not thousands of times a day, and we’ve all encountered ones that wear out or are faulty (sometimes for days or weeks). I’ve seen doors switched in such cases and my vague perception is that by reversing the traffic flow, it gives the door set longer life, like rotating tires. Not that I can make that make sense unless there’s something about the traffic patterns I don’t understand, but I can see it being a maintenance voodoo thing.
FWIW, I’ve run into the reversed door scheme - well, not run into, but you know what I mean - in “tougher” areas. Can’t think of an example in an average or upscale grocery or other glass-front store. That tends to support the security notion.
I suspect this is because it’s on a SE corner of an intersection, and the store is more or less tucked into the SE corner of the lot, with parking lots along the west and north sides of the lot.
So having the main “In” on the right side of the store as you face it, means that door is closest to the most parking spots.
I suspect that if the store was on a SW corner, it would be reversed, as you’d want parking lots along the east and north side of the lot, and the store in the SW corner of the lot, and the left side of the store would be the entrance closest to the most parking spots.
I do suspect that the right side is the default if there aren’t any geographic considerations- another grocery near me is smack in the middle of a long strip mall, and all parking is in front of the mall. Their main entrance is to the right.
Our local Wal-Mart needs to read your post. As you’re looking at the store, the in door is to the right, out to the left. However, the carts are inside the door to the left, the actual store is straight ahead and cash registers are to the right. Everyone going in or out has to cross paths.
To me your explanation is the obvious one. Not sure why there is much of a debate about it.
When you enter a store - you might not know where the registers are - so the decision where to enter (minus the signs) isn’t necessarily clear if you haven’t been there before.
When you exit the store - the decision should be obvious. What sense whatsoever does it make for it not to be the closest door. Even if it would cause you to cross traffic once in 1000 times - it still makes sense for this to be closest to the registers.
There are other considerations - such as the parking lot, but I can’t recall this coming into play.
Also I could see how handicap access might also be an issue. Well I can’t think how off hand, but I’m guessing it’s possible.
To me - this is simple. What side of the road you drive on is irrelevant.
Stores are laid out in a logical fashion. They do usually want you to see the produce first. If you are going into a store where the produce is on the right - and there are two sets of doors (on either side of the building):
They should be set up:
Enter|Exit…Exit|Enter
If the produce is on the left:
It’s the same thing!
There are almost always some product on the perimeter of the store - so the entrance should almost always be on the side with the product.
Making people travel further to exit the store - or to enter the store (granted technically they aren’t traveling further if you count movement outside the store) doesn’t make sense.
Im sure there are plenty of places that do it wrong - but this is a pretty easy decision on the part of store designers.
Now if you are talking about doors that run parallel to the store - that makes it a little less obvious how it should be done, but if you are talking doors that lead into the store directly - I don’t see how there is more than one logical option in most circumstances.
ETA: also where the shopping carts are (inside vs out - as well as location) could effect decision making
The Safeway in our town is really screwed up with their doors. The entrance is on the left, and that’s the side the cash registers are on, as well as the direction people exiting come from. And of course the exit is on the right side.
Sometimes it does cause a mild traffic jam.
Since this thread started almost 7 years ago (ZOMBIE THREAD), most grocery store renovations and new stores have eliminated the separate in and out doors. Everyone I go to has large double sliding doors that open up for all people entering or exiting the building.
Yes–can you believe it took them seven years to figure this out?
Seriously, though, even with the large double doors, bigger stores still take into consider the entry-exit flow, often in a way so as to “force” people to exit through a cash register lane (which is presumably a way to reduce shoplifting). They have two large double sliding doors, one clearly labeled “exit,” right by the registers, and the other labeled “enter” off to one side or the other where everyone is supposed to enter the store. I assume this make it easier to monitor for people trying to walk out without paying for something. The problem is sometimes you go in without a cart (taking a hand basket instead), and then realize once you’re inside you actually need a cart. You have to go outside to get a cart, but this new design tries to force you through the registers, by making it seem “wrong” if try to go out through the entrance.