The science behind why walking through Walmart’s massive parking lots doesn’t feel like a marathon

Walking from one side of a Walmart parking lot to the other can take as many as 2,000 steps.

But most shoppers rarely complain about the long journey — and that’s thanks to Walmart’s science-based design.

Urban planners revealed that it doesn’t feel like you’re running a marathon, because the ‘huge sight lines’, spaces between spots, giving customers a clear view of the store, regardless of where they parked.

Walmart has also strategically scaled structures around a car, such as tall lampposts and giant signage, minimizing the perception of how large the lot actually is.

The experts also noted that because the entire parking lot is dedicated to the store, shoppers won’t feel like they’re going out of the way no matter how far they park from the entrance doors.

A typical Walmart, with its parking lot, covers a total area of ​​more than a dozen football fields.

And the parking lot is on average three times the size of the store.

Experts from Streetcraft, a media company that creates informative content on urban planning, revealed that the perceived short walk is just an illusion.

It all comes down to the differences between the way parking lots and cities are set up, they explained.

In a video, a Streetcraft expert outlines a hypothetical scenario in which a customer drives to Walmart, parks and buys groceries, towels and toothpaste.

“You check out, go back to your car and probably don’t think anything of it,” he said.

Then the customer drives to the center of his city for lunch, but has to park a few blocks away at the restaurant because all the spots directly outside are taken.

“It may feel like you had to walk forever to get to the restaurant and back to your car, but it turns out that was actually no further than your quick trip to Walmart.”

There are two reasons why the walk to and from the restaurant may take longer, the expert said in the video, which was posted on the website. Streetcraft Instagram.

The first is the sight lines, or the line between the viewer’s eye and their destination.

Navigating Walmart’s massive parking lots requires a lot of steps. But the way they’re designed makes the distance from the car to the store feel shorter

In a city, sight lines are constantly obstructed by buildings, trees and other obstacles that make it difficult to see the destination until it is very close

“A huge parking lot gives you a clear view of your destination as you approach it,” he said.

This is not the case in a city, where sight lines are constantly obstructed by buildings, trees and other obstacles that make it difficult to see the destination until it is very close.

In a parking lot, “Everything is also scaled around the car, whether it’s the lighting, the signs or even the storefronts themselves,” the expert explained.

‘In a city, however, everything becomes human scale.’

“You pass visual cues that give you a sense of the distance traveled – such as trees, other people and human-sized storefronts – all of which block direct lines of sight, giving you the illusion that your destination is further away, it seems.”

The second reason has to do with how emotions can influence a person’s perception of how long it takes to walk from one place to another.

‘There is also the expectation of special parking. In the US, people are so used to going to a special parking lot to visit one company,” the expert explains.

‘And if we cannot park directly in front of the business, that does not match that expectation. Even though parking a few blocks away is actually no different than parking at the end of a Walmart parking lot.”

The frustration people may feel when having to take an extra step to reach a destination can contribute to making the journey feel longer than it actually is.