There’s a stretch of Airways Boulevard between Shelby Drive and Raines Road where you can count fourteen distribution centers from your car window. Three years ago, half those buildings were empty or underused. Today, every loading dock is full. Trucks line up before dawn. And every single one of those facilities needs security.
Memphis has always been a logistics town. FedEx built its global hub here in the 1970s, and the airport has been the world’s busiest cargo hub for decades. What’s changed in the past two years is the sheer volume. E-commerce growth has turned Memphis from a logistics capital into a logistics pressure cooker. Amazon, Nike, and dozens of smaller retailers have expanded their distribution footprint across Shelby County. Warehouse construction is up. Hiring is up. And the security industry is scrambling to keep pace.
For security companies operating in the Memphis market, this is the best growth opportunity in a generation. It’s also a test of whether they can actually deliver what these facilities need.
The Numbers Behind the Boom
The Memphis area added roughly 4.2 million square feet of industrial space in 2018, according to commercial real estate reports from the period. Most of it went to distribution and fulfillment operations. The vacancy rate for industrial properties in Shelby County dropped below 6%, a number that would have seemed impossible five years earlier.
FedEx remains the anchor. The company’s Memphis hub processes more than 180,000 packages per hour during peak operations. That number keeps climbing as online shopping grows. The ripple effect touches everything: trucking companies need staging areas, retailers need regional fulfillment centers, and third-party logistics firms need warehouse space to sort and redistribute goods.
All of that translates directly into security contracts. A 200,000-square-foot distribution center running two shifts needs at minimum one security officer on site around the clock. Most facilities of that size want two, sometimes three officers per shift. They want access control systems at every entrance. Camera coverage of the dock areas, parking lots, and perimeter fencing. Alarm monitoring. And increasingly, they want GPS-tracked mobile patrols covering the exterior and adjacent lots.
Multiply that across the hundreds of logistics facilities operating in Memphis, and you’re looking at a security market worth tens of millions annually just in the warehouse and distribution segment.
Where the Growth Is Concentrated
The heaviest development is happening in three corridors.
The Airways Boulevard corridor running south from the airport is ground zero. This area sits directly adjacent to the FedEx World Hub, and proximity to the air cargo operation makes it prime real estate for time-sensitive distribution. New construction and renovations of older industrial buildings have been steady here since mid-2017.
The Lamar Avenue corridor from Parkway Village south toward Shelby Drive is the second hotspot. This stretch has seen older manufacturing facilities converted into modern distribution space. The industrial character of the neighborhood, combined with relatively affordable lease rates compared to the east side of the county, makes it attractive to mid-size logistics operators who can’t justify premium Germantown or Collierville locations.
East Memphis industrial areas near Getwell Road and Knight Arnold have also absorbed significant logistics expansion, particularly from companies that need proximity to both the interstate system and the airport without being directly in the Airways Boulevard traffic congestion.
Each of these corridors presents different security challenges. The Airways area deals with high truck traffic volumes and the constant movement of temporary workers during peak seasons. The Lamar corridor has higher property crime rates than the eastern parts of the county. East Memphis facilities tend to be newer with better built-in security infrastructure, though the suburban surroundings can create a false sense of safety.
What Warehouse Clients Actually Want
Talk to a warehouse operations manager about security, and they’ll give you a list that looks nothing like what a retail store needs.
Cargo theft is the primary concern. The FBI estimates that cargo theft costs the U.S. economy roughly $15 to $35 billion per year, depending on which estimate you trust. Memphis, as a freight crossroads, sees more than its share. Trailers get hit in staging areas. Packages disappear from loading docks during shift changes. Organized theft rings target specific high-value shipments.
Access control is the second priority. A distribution center might have 200 employees on the floor during a shift, plus truck drivers coming and going, plus maintenance contractors, plus temporary staffing agency workers. Knowing who is in the building at any given moment matters for both security and liability reasons.
Then there’s the overnight shift. Many facilities run 24 hours, and the skeleton crews working between midnight and 6 a.m. are the most vulnerable. Fewer eyes on the floor, tired workers, and the knowledge among local criminals that certain warehouses are lightly staffed after midnight.
Security companies that win warehouse contracts are the ones that can address all three concerns simultaneously. A guard standing at the front gate checking IDs is part of the solution. Camera systems with remote monitoring fill another gap. Mobile patrols covering the perimeter and parking areas handle the overnight exposure.
Who’s Getting the Contracts
The national firms have obvious advantages in this space. Allied Universal and Securitas both maintain significant operations in Memphis, and they’ve been aggressive about pursuing logistics contracts. Their pitch is straightforward: scale, technology integration, and the ability to service multiple facilities under a single contract with standardized procedures.
Allied Universal, which completed its merger with U.S. Security Associates in late 2018, is the largest security company in North America. Their Memphis operation handles contracts ranging from corporate office buildings to distribution facilities. For a national logistics company with warehouses in twelve states, hiring Allied to cover all of them under one master contract is appealing. One point of contact, one billing system, one set of training standards.
Securitas makes a similar argument. The Swedish-headquartered company has been expanding its technology-integrated security offerings, combining guard services with electronic monitoring, analytics, and remote surveillance capabilities that larger warehouse operators increasingly demand.
Then there are the regional and local firms competing for the clients that the nationals either can’t service profitably or haven’t gotten around to yet. This is where the real competition is happening in Memphis.
Shield of Steel, headquartered at 2682 Lamar Avenue, sits right in the middle of the logistics corridor. The veteran-owned company has been operating since 1998 and has built a client base that includes distribution centers, healthcare facilities, and corporate properties. Their pitch to warehouse clients centers on GPS-tracked patrols that let facility managers see exactly where their security officer is at any given moment, with statewide coverage that can service distribution networks across Tennessee.
For a mid-size warehouse operator on Lamar Avenue or Airways Boulevard, a company like Shield of Steel offers some clear advantages. They’re local, so response times for supervisor visits and emergency callouts tend to be faster. They’re priced competitively against the nationals. The GPS tracking provides accountability that smaller firms often can’t match. And the veteran and law enforcement background of their personnel gives them credibility with operations managers who want guards that carry themselves professionally.
The trade-off is size. A company like Shield of Steel doesn’t have the fleet depth of Allied Universal. If a national logistics client needs 40 guards across eight states by next Monday, that’s not a contract a regional firm can fill. For a Memphis-based operator with two or three local facilities, though, the calculation looks different. The personal attention and local responsiveness of a smaller firm can outweigh the brand recognition of a national one.
The Technology Arms Race
Warehouse security in 2019 isn’t just guards and gates. The technology component has become a major differentiator, and it’s where a lot of the investment money is going.
IP camera systems with analytics capability can now detect unauthorized vehicles, identify tailgating at access points, and flag unusual activity patterns in parking lots. License plate recognition systems at facility entrances automatically log every vehicle that enters and exits. Cloud-based access control platforms let managers grant or revoke credentials from their phones.
For security companies, keeping up with this technology is expensive. Installing a camera system is one thing. Maintaining it, monitoring it, and integrating it with guard operations is another. The companies that can offer both physical security and technology management are winning larger contracts. The ones that still operate with guards, radios, and paper logs are getting pushed toward the lower end of the market.
What This Means for the Memphis Security Market
The logistics boom is reshaping how security companies in Memphis think about growth. Five years ago, a local firm might build its business on a mix of residential patrols, retail loss prevention, and event security. Today, the warehouse and distribution segment is so large and so profitable that some companies are reorganizing their operations specifically to target it.
That creates winners and losers. Companies with the training, technology, and personnel to service warehouse clients are growing fast. Companies without those capabilities are watching their best guards get recruited away by firms that can pay more because their warehouse contracts generate higher margins.
The losers in this shift are the small security outfits running on thin margins with undertrained guards. A warehouse client that loses $50,000 in cargo because a guard wasn’t paying attention at 3 a.m. isn’t going to keep that contract with the lowest bidder. They’ll pay more for a company that can demonstrate accountability, training records, and technology integration.
Memphis sits at the center of a logistics network that isn’t slowing down. The packages flowing through this city every night are worth billions. Protecting them is a growth industry. The question is which security companies are building the capability to meet that demand, and which ones are going to get left behind.
Every week, another warehouse goes up along Airways or Lamar. And every one of them needs someone watching the door.