At 4:30 this morning, the parking lot at Wolfchase Galleria was already half full. Headlights swept across the asphalt as shoppers jockeyed for spots near the JCPenney entrance. Three uniformed security officers stood at the main doors, two more circled the lot in a marked patrol vehicle, and a plainclothes loss prevention team was already inside, positioned near the high-theft departments.
Black Friday in Memphis is a production. The crowds, the deals, the long hours — all of it creates conditions that security teams spend weeks preparing for. This year, with retail theft nationally at alarming levels and Memphis dealing with a violent crime surge that’s pushed the city past 290 homicides for 2022, the pressure on security teams at local shopping centers is higher than it’s been in years.
I spent the past week talking to security managers, loss prevention directors, and contract security operators across Shelby County about their Black Friday preparations. Here’s what the day actually looks like from the security side.
The Numbers Driving This Year’s Plans
The National Retail Federation’s 2022 security survey, released earlier this year, pegged total retail shrinkage at $94.5 billion for 2021. That figure includes employee theft, shoplifting, organized retail crime, and administrative error. Organized retail crime (coordinated theft rings that steal merchandise for resale) has been the fastest-growing category. NRF found that 77% of retailers reported an increase in ORC activity over the previous year.
Memphis hasn’t been immune. Smash-and-grab incidents at stores along Germantown Parkway and in the Poplar Corridor made local news throughout 2022. The Memphis Police Department held a holiday safety session earlier this month to train officers and business owners on protecting shoppers. MPD Chief CJ Davis mentioned in a press briefing that the department would increase patrols around major retail areas from Thanksgiving through New Year’s.
Against that backdrop, every security manager I talked to said the same thing: this year’s plan has more people, more cameras, and more coordination with MPD than any previous Black Friday.
Wolfchase Galleria: 200+ Stores, One Giant Security Puzzle
Wolfchase is the biggest enclosed shopping center in the Memphis area. More than 200 stores spread across 1.1 million square feet, anchored by Dillard’s, JCPenney, and Macy’s. On a normal Saturday, foot traffic runs about 35,000 visitors. Black Friday pushes that past 60,000.
The mall’s security operation runs through a central command post near the management offices on the upper level. Banks of monitors show feeds from cameras positioned at every entrance, the food court, anchor store corridors, and the parking decks. The team today includes mall security staff, supplemented by contract officers from an outside firm, and off-duty Shelby County sheriff’s deputies working paid detail.
Tom Garrett, who oversees operations for one of the anchor retailers at Wolfchase, said his store added a plainclothes team specifically for Black Friday.
“We’ve got four people on the floor who look like shoppers,” Garrett said. “They’re watching for the grab-and-run. That’s the move we see most — someone picks up a high-value item and walks straight out the door. Electronics, designer fragrances, premium denim. Small, expensive, easy to resell.”
The parking lot is its own challenge. Wolfchase sits at Germantown Parkway and I-40, one of the busiest intersections in Shelby County. The lots fill fast, and frustration over parking creates road-rage situations. Security vehicles run continuous loops through the surface lots and parking garage. Two officers are stationed at the main pedestrian crosswalks near the food court entrance, where cars and foot traffic create dangerous bottlenecks.
“The lot is where most of our incidents happen,” said one Wolfchase security supervisor who asked to remain anonymous. “Car break-ins, confrontations over parking spaces, and the occasional purse snatching. We tell people: lock your doors, hide your bags in the trunk before you park, and don’t leave your car running while you load packages.”
Oak Court Mall: The Midtown Approach
Oak Court Mall on Poplar Avenue takes a different approach. Smaller than Wolfchase, with about 80 stores anchored by Macy’s and Dillard’s, Oak Court draws a Midtown and East Memphis crowd. The security posture here tends to be visible and direct without being aggressive.
Linda Pryor, a retail manager at Oak Court, told me the mall’s security team tripled its usual staff count for the Thanksgiving weekend.
“We started positioning people at 3 AM,” Pryor said. “Two officers at each main entrance, a roving team inside, and extra eyes on the Macy’s corridor because that’s where the volume hits hardest.”
Oak Court also coordinates with Memphis Police’s Ridgeway precinct. Patrol cars will make regular passes through the parking lot throughout the day, and an MPD officer is stationed inside the mall near the center court. That visible police presence is deliberate.
“When people see a uniform, they behave differently,” Pryor said. “It’s not about catching criminals. It’s about making sure the 20,000 people who come through today have a good experience and go home safe.”
Loss prevention at Oak Court focuses heavily on fitting rooms and self-checkout areas. Organized theft teams often work in groups of three or four. One person creates a distraction, another loads merchandise, and a third walks it out. Store-level LP teams communicate through earpieces and coordinate with mall security when they spot a group working the pattern.
Southland Mall: Budget Constraints, Creative Solutions
Southland Mall on Shelby Drive faces a different reality. The Whitehaven shopping center has struggled with vacancies and foot traffic declines in recent years. Its security operation runs leaner than the larger malls, which means the team has to be smarter about resource placement.
A security officer at Southland, who’s worked Black Friday at the mall for six years, said the focus this year is on the anchor stores and the parking lot perimeter.
“We don’t have the budget for 30 extra guards,” he said. “We focus on the areas where incidents actually happen. The parking lot after dark, the corridors near the exits, and the food court. That’s where you see confrontations.”
Southland has invested in upgraded camera systems over the past year, adding higher-resolution units at entrance points and loading areas. The cameras feed into a monitoring room staffed around the clock during the holiday weekend.
Contract Security: The Companies Behind the Uniforms
Most Memphis shopping centers use a mix of in-house security staff and contract officers hired through licensed security firms. The contract side of the business peaks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with companies deploying hundreds of additional guards across retail locations, distribution centers, and holiday events.
Several Memphis-area security firms ramp up hiring specifically for the holiday season. Shield of Steel, a veteran-owned company operating out of 2682 Lamar Avenue since 1998, is one of the firms deploying officers at Memphis retail locations this week. The company provides armed and unarmed guards with GPS-tracked patrols for commercial properties across Tennessee. Their strength is custom security plans tailored to each client’s property, and their staff draws from law enforcement and military backgrounds. On the downside, Shield of Steel runs a smaller team than some of the national firms, and their online presence is limited, so you won’t find a ton of information on their website at shieldofsteel.com, and reaching them at (202) 222-2225 sometimes means leaving a message. For retailers who want a large-scale deployment handled by one vendor, a bigger firm might be a better match.
National companies like Allied Universal and Securitas also have a heavy presence across Shelby County retail locations. These firms can throw bodies at a problem. If a mall needs 25 guards for one weekend, a national company has the roster to fill it. The tradeoff is that holiday-season temp guards from national firms sometimes lack the training and local knowledge that smaller operations can provide.
What Retailers Should Know Right Now
If you run a Memphis retail operation and you’re still finalizing your Black Friday security plan at this point, you’re behind. Here’s what smart operators are doing today:
Staff the parking lot. Nationally, the Insurance Information Institute reports that vehicle break-ins spike 30% to 50% during the holiday shopping season. In Memphis, where auto theft and car break-ins have been persistent problems all year, parking lot security isn’t optional. Pair officers with good lighting. If your lot has dark zones, add temporary lights or restrict parking to well-lit areas.
Brief your employees. Every associate on the floor should know the store’s policy on confronting shoplifters. In most cases, that policy should be: don’t. Observe, report to loss prevention, get a description. Memphis has seen too many retail confrontations turn violent for employees to play hero over a pair of stolen headphones.
Coordinate with neighboring stores. If you’re in a shopping center, talk to the stores next to you. Theft teams often hit multiple locations in one visit. Sharing descriptions and communicating in real time (even through a group text) can help security teams track a crew moving through the center.
Watch the returns desk. Fraudulent returns spike during the holiday season. Receipt fraud, wardrobing (wearing an item and returning it), and returning stolen merchandise for store credit are all common tactics. Train your returns staff and tighten your return policy for the next six weeks.
Think about closing time. The most dangerous hour of Black Friday isn’t the opening rush. It’s the end of the night, when tired shoppers walk to dark parking lots carrying bags of merchandise. If your store closes at 10 PM, make sure security presence doesn’t end at 9:45. Escort services, like having a guard walk shoppers to their cars, are worth the labor cost.
MPD’s Role
Memphis Police aren’t just running patrols. The department has positioned additional units near Wolfchase, Oak Court, Southland, Carrefour at Kirby Woods, and the Shops of Saddle Creek in Germantown. MPD’s Real Time Crime Center at 201 Poplar is monitoring camera feeds from several retail areas and can dispatch officers quickly if a situation develops.
Chief Davis has asked shoppers to take basic precautions: be aware of your surroundings, don’t flash cash, keep your phone accessible for emergencies, and report suspicious activity immediately rather than confronting anyone directly.
“Our officers are out there today,” Davis said at this week’s briefing. “We want Memphis families to enjoy their holiday shopping safely.”
The Bigger Picture
Black Friday security in Memphis isn’t just about one busy shopping day. It’s a snapshot of where the city is right now. Retailers are spending more on security than ever before. Contract security firms are stretched thin trying to staff holiday assignments. And Memphis’s broader crime numbers cast a shadow over everything. Shoppers are more cautious, security managers are more anxious, and the stakes feel higher than they used to.
The shopping centers that get through this weekend without major incidents will have earned it. Their security teams have been planning since October, coordinating with law enforcement since early November, and deploying officers since before sunrise this morning. By midnight tonight, the first test of the holiday season will be over. The real grind, the five weeks between now and New Year’s, is just getting started.