Introducing safescapes: an analytical framework for understanding safety in retail

Safety is becoming an increasingly important concern for retailers, both in physical stores and online. Reports indicate that criminality is on the rise, with incidents of theft, violence and harassment becoming more common. While criminology research has addressed this issue to some extent, particularly within the area of crime prevention through environmental design, this remains a relatively under-researched topic. Simultaneously, research within the retail sector is still largely dominated by ideas centred on creating attractive environments and immersive experiences, with its roots in servicescape research. This paper challenges these assumptions by introducing safety as an additional consideration in retail design. A critical case study was conducted in Sweden during the pandemic, demonstrating how retailers had to balance service with safety. Insights from this case study, based on interviews and complementary observations, form the basis of an analytical framework in which safety is prioritised over service. This framework is referred to as a ‘safescape’. The results demonstrate how the informationscapes shifted from product- and brand-oriented information to safety-oriented information, how socialscapes shifted from encouraging social interaction to managing interaction to reduce risks, and how experiencescapes shifted from creating extraordinary experiences to creating safe and controlled environments, both in physical stores and online. Although many of the artefacts from the pandemic are no longer visible in stores, these changes have collectively normalised and legitimised increased behavioural control in retail environments. Furthermore, this development opens a discussion about how retailers can address safety aspects going forward. This paper contributes to the field by proposing an analytical framework for addressing safety considerations in retail.