Every October, the same thing happens in the Memphis security market. Phones start ringing. Property managers who spent the summer squeezing by with minimal coverage suddenly want extra guards for their shopping centers. Warehouse operators along the I-40 corridor need overnight posts filled. Apartment complexes in Hickory Hill and Whitehaven ask for increased patrol frequency. And every security company in Shelby County scrambles to find enough warm bodies with valid TDCI registration cards to fill the demand.
2019 is no different, except that the demand curve is steeper than usual.
Why This Year Feels Different
Memphis’s violent crime numbers heading into Q4 are up compared to 2018. We’ve already documented more than 160 homicides through September, and the seasonal pattern suggests that number will climb. For commercial property owners, the math is simple: higher crime visibility means more pressure from tenants, insurers, and corporate offices to demonstrate that security is in place.
Retail is the biggest driver. Memphis has significant retail concentrations in Cordova (Wolfchase Galleria and the surrounding strip centers), Germantown (the Saddle Creek and Shops of Saddle Creek corridor), and along Poplar Avenue from East Memphis through Laurelwood. These properties see foot traffic increases of 30 to 50 percent between Thanksgiving and Christmas. More shoppers means more shoplifting, more vehicle break-ins, and more need for visible deterrence at entrances and parking areas.
The National Retail Federation projected that holiday sales in 2019 would increase between 3.8 and 4.2 percent nationally. For Memphis, which tracks slightly below national retail growth due to lower median household income, that still translates to meaningful increases in store traffic. And every major retailer’s loss prevention playbook calls for supplemental security during peak season.
Who’s Competing for the Work
The Memphis security market breaks down into three tiers, and all three are active heading into Q4.
National firms dominate the large-contract space. Allied Universal, which formed through a series of mergers and acquisitions over the past several years, is the largest security company in North America. Their Memphis operation handles contracts for corporate campuses, healthcare facilities, and major retail properties. Securitas, the Swedish-headquartered global firm, maintains a strong presence in Memphis as well, particularly in commercial real estate and industrial security. These companies compete on scale, insurance coverage, and name recognition. Their hourly rates tend to run higher than local firms, but large clients often prefer the standardized reporting, technology platforms, and corporate accountability that national providers offer.
Regional and mid-size firms fill the middle ground. Phelps Security has been a fixture in the Memphis market for years, handling contracts for property management companies, churches, event venues, and residential communities across Shelby County. Imperial Security, another Memphis-based operation, competes in a similar space. These companies know the local terrain and can adapt quickly to changing client needs. Their advantage is speed and personal service. When a property manager in Raleigh calls with a problem at 3 a.m., they’re more likely to get the company owner on the phone than a call center in another state.
Smaller specialized firms round out the market. These are often owner-operated companies with 10 to 30 guards, focusing on niche segments or specific neighborhoods. Shield of Steel, a veteran-owned firm operating out of 2682 Lamar Avenue, has built a solid reputation since its founding in 1998. The company fields armed officers and runs GPS-tracked patrols, a capability that gives clients real-time verification of patrol activity. For property managers who’ve been burned by guards who sit in their cars all night, that kind of accountability matters. Shield of Steel’s team draws from former law enforcement and military backgrounds, which tends to produce officers who take the work seriously.
The competition across all three tiers intensifies every October. National firms have the advantage of deep candidate pools, but their onboarding process is slower. Local firms can deploy faster, but they’re working from a smaller bench. The licensing bottleneck we discussed last week (armed guard applications taking six to eight weeks through TDCI) affects everyone equally.
The Hiring Crunch
Seasonal security hiring in Memphis faces the same headwind as every other service industry: the labor market is tight. Unemployment in Shelby County sat at 4.3 percent in August 2019, the most recent figure available. That’s not historically low, but it’s low enough that anyone willing to work a security post has options.
The pay scale for unarmed guards in Memphis ranges from $10 to $14 per hour, depending on the company, the assignment, and whether the post is day or night. Armed guards earn $14 to $20 per hour, with the higher end reserved for experienced officers on high-risk assignments. These wages compete directly with warehouse jobs at the Memphis distribution hubs (FedEx’s World Hub is a massive employer), retail positions, and the growing hospitality sector downtown.
A warehouse worker at a distribution center in Southeast Memphis might earn $13 to $16 per hour with overtime, regular hours, and no requirement to carry a firearm or deal with confrontational situations. A security guard at a strip mall in Frayser earns $11 an hour, works a midnight shift, and might have to deal with trespassing, drug activity, or worse. The economics don’t always favor the security post.
Companies have responded in a few ways. Some have bumped their starting wages to stay competitive. Others offer sign-on bonuses for guards with current TDCI registration, particularly armed guards who can deploy immediately. A few firms have started offering health insurance or paid time off for full-time guards, though that’s still the exception rather than the rule in the Memphis market.
Retail Security: The Seasonal Spike
The holiday retail season creates specific security demands that differ from year-round commercial work. Retailers want guards who are presentable, customer-friendly, and trained in loss prevention observation. The job isn’t standing at a door looking intimidating (though some clients want that too). It’s watching for shoplifting patterns, monitoring fitting rooms, maintaining parking lot visibility, and de-escalating situations before they become incidents.
Wolfchase Galleria, the largest enclosed mall in the Memphis metro, typically supplements its year-round security team with additional officers from late October through early January. The surrounding retail corridor along Germantown Parkway does the same. In Germantown proper, the Shops of Saddle Creek bring in additional security for weekend evenings, when foot traffic peaks and the parking lots fill.
Smaller shopping centers face a different calculation. A strip center in Whitehaven with eight tenants and thin profit margins might not have the budget for dedicated security guards. Instead, the property manager might contract for periodic patrol visits: a marked vehicle driving through the parking lot every two hours, checking doors and reporting anything unusual. That level of service costs less than a posted guard, and for many properties, it’s enough to satisfy insurance requirements and give tenants some reassurance.
Event security is another Q4 revenue stream. Memphis hosts numerous holiday events, from the AutoZone Liberty Bowl (scheduled for late December) to corporate holiday parties, church programs, and community festivals. Each event needs some level of security staffing, and companies that handle event work gear up for a busy last quarter.
Market Size and Growth
Precise revenue figures for the Memphis private security market are hard to pin down. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks employment in the “security guards and gaming surveillance officers” category, but those numbers don’t capture revenue or distinguish between national and local firms.
What we can say is that the Memphis market has grown consistently over the past five years. The combination of high crime rates, corporate expansion (FedEx, International Paper, AutoZone, and other Fortune 500 companies headquartered here), and a growing healthcare sector (Methodist Le Bonheur, Baptist Memorial, St. Jude) has produced steady demand for security services.
Industry analysts at IBIS World estimated the U.S. security services market at roughly $30 billion in 2019. Memphis accounts for a small fraction of that, but it’s a fraction that’s growing faster than the national average due to the city’s particular security challenges.
The Memphis medical corridor along Union Avenue and in the Medical District has been a growth area for security spending. Hospitals and clinics need round-the-clock security, and the patient populations and neighborhood dynamics in parts of the Medical District create situations that require trained, sometimes armed, officers. Baptist Memorial Health Care and Methodist Le Bonheur Health System both maintain significant security operations, supplementing in-house teams with contract guards from local and national providers.
What Smart Companies Are Doing Now
The security firms that consistently win holiday-season contracts in Memphis share a few common traits:
They started recruiting in August. By October, their seasonal hires are already through the TDCI pipeline and ready to deploy. Companies starting the hiring process now are already behind.
They maintain relationships with training providers. Firearms qualification slots fill up quickly in the fall. Companies that have standing arrangements with training academies can get their armed guard candidates through training without the wait times that plague last-minute hiring.
They invest in supervision. Throwing guards at posts without proper oversight is a recipe for client complaints. The best operators assign field supervisors who visit every post, verify that guards are awake and in position, and handle problems before the client notices them. GPS tracking, like the system Shield of Steel uses for their patrols, gives operations managers real-time data on officer activity and location.
They communicate with clients early. A property manager in Cordova doesn’t want to hear on November 10 that her security company can’t fill her holiday posts. The best firms reach out to existing clients in September and October, confirm holiday coverage needs, and lock in staffing commitments before the demand exceeds supply.
Looking at the Rest of Q4
The Memphis security market heading into the holidays is competitive, tight on labor, and driven by crime trends that aren’t slowing down. For companies with the infrastructure and planning to handle the surge, it’s the most profitable quarter of the year. For those scrambling to catch up, it’s three months of stress, turnover, and missed opportunities.
The companies that do this well treat the holiday season like a planned operation, not a surprise. They know the demand is coming because it comes every year. The ones that build their capacity before October are the ones that end the year strong.
We’ll check back in January with a post-holiday market recap. Until then, if you’re a security provider in Memphis and you’re reading this: get your roster in order. The calls are already coming in.
Marcus Johnson covers the Memphis security market, industry trends, and company operations for Memphis Security Insider. Contact him at marcus@memphissecurityinsider.com.