Why do businesses leave entry doors locked?

[Stephen Tashiro]

Perhaps someone who has managed a retail business can explain why it is so common to see a pair of entry doors side-by-side, with only one of the doors unlocked and operating.

When I see a business with 6 entry doors and only one pair operating, I feel a moment of sympathy. I say "Those poor guys. They must have expected crowds of people to show up and now they've had to face reality." However it irks me to see half of a pair of doors not working. Often a pair of doors is marked as "Exit" and I wonder if it is illegal to have one of them locked during business hours. Sometimes businesses leave half of a pair of doors locked and they don't even put a "Use other door" sign on it. It's as if customers are supposed to take it for granted that only one door in a pair of doors will work. (And I suppose that's a realistic expectation.)

[Joe Mioux]

Sometimes one door has to be closed ( or opened ) before the other can be used. It's easier to keep the one locked and reduce the possibility of damaging the doors.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In some cases only one pair of doors of multiple entries are used for entrance and exit to control customer traffic through that one opening to reduce shoplifting. It takes fewer workers to watch one entrance. Some of the amateur shoplifters find it more difficult to walk past an employer or store owner when shop lifting. The pros that do this have little difficulty doing it, however.

Then as Joe said, only 1/2 is used to prevent damage to the doors.

[David C. Roseman]

[snip]
Often a pair of doors is marked as "Exit" and I wonder if it is illegal to have one of them locked during business hours.
[snip]

Yes, I think it would be, if the door is locked from both outside and inside. But if you see a horizontal "push" bar on the inside, it's more than likely that only outside access is locked.

David

[Bill Huber]

In some areas if you have a double doors both have to be unlocked or you can be fined. I know Overland Park Ks. passed that law after a fire at an office and there was a jam up at the doors and some people got killed.

[Harvey M. Taylor]

methinks it is at least partly to conserve the air condition or heat. Max

[Stephen Cherry]

Laziness. zzz

[David Weaver]

I'd go for laziness as a persistent cause. Someone comes in and opens a restaurant or a business daily, and closes it, too and does the open and close as fast as they can.

[Erik Loza]

...to reduce shoplifting...

This ^^^

I was a retail manager for almost 10 years. As Ken mentioned, it will stop the casual shoplifter but not the organized ones. The stories I can tell about the ways shoplifters try to get things out of a store...

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Phil Thien]

Sometimes the doors that are locked might not work well.

Pivot hinges (found on many of them) can wear out and the door doesn't want to open/close because the bottom drags on the threshold. Most retail leases are triple-net, which means the tenant pays to maintain the doors (and everything else), and will likely just keep a poorly functioning door locked instead of calling someone to fix it.

Once all sets of doors have problems, they will then call a glass outfit to come out and replace all the pivots in one shot. Or if their lease needs renewing, they will make the management (of the center) do it as a condition of signing a new lease.

[Mel Fulks]

Stephen,I saw what I consider an example of that Saturday evening that approached the bizarre. Saw a comic at an old movie palace .When it was over guards stood at all the side exits not allowing their use. Everyone had to leave through the front doors. Slow process. I called the fire Marshall to complain and was told that in an emergency they would have allowed exit.Could not get any good answer as to why they spent more money to slow things down. Must be a Richmond thing.

[Ole Anderson]

Stephen,I saw what I consider an example of that Saturday evening that approached the bizarre. Saw a comic at an old movie palace .When it was over guards stood at all the side exits not allowing their use. Everyone had to leave through the front doors. Slow process. I called the fire Marshall to complain and was told that in an emergency they would have allowed exit.Could not get any good answer as to why they spent more money to slow things down. Must be a Richmond thing.

Kids were probably sneaking in as folks were exiting rear doors. Although if they had a guard at the door, he could easily allow one way traffic.

[Jim Becker]

Wind is also a factor. Sometimes one side is left fastened so that prevailing wind will not catch it and slam it open, possibly causing damage or injury. But I agree it can be frustrating!