I walked into a liquor store at 8:50PM. They turned the lights off at 8:55PM.

I repeatedly asked to have the lights turned on, and stated that it is a risk to have no lights in the store, but received an unhelpful response from the staff. The front of the store around the cashier was dimmed. Eventually I found my way out of the store.

Are there laws for stores that require them to have the lights on as long as there are customers in the store? Are there any such laws specific to liquor stores?


They are, at the least, required to maintain emergency lighting to comply with OSHA regulations. According to 29 CFR 1910.37(b)(1),


State law may also apply. Wisconsin has a law which requires that a place of employment be safe for both employees and "frequenters". According to Low v. Siewert, Wisconsin Supreme Court 1972, failure to light a parking lot could have incurred liability under this law (but in that particular case it was not established that the business could have reasonably known about the light being out - it could have burned out just before the incident - so the owner was not found liable.)

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