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square footage rate observed in this study would normally be used in order to cover the needs for all types of stores. In other words, the results from this analysis show that one parking space would be required for every 600 square feet of the building in order to provide enough parking for the peak parking demand at all types of stores on the 5th busiest day of the year. Transactions While more difficult to estimate for a proposed store, previous parking studies have shown that the number of transactions and/or the amount of annual sales are better predictors of parking demand than square footage. An illustration of why sales data are better predictors of parking demand than square footage is that if there are two stores of identical size, the store with more customers (and therefore sales) will have a higher parking demand than the store with fewer customers. While it is true that larger stores have the potential for attracting more customers, a large store with few customers will have less parking needs than a smaller store with more customers. These relationships are intuitive because the number of transactions is very closely related to the number of customers visiting the store. Visiting customers are defined as adults with purchasing power that visit the store (children who accompany their parents do not have purchasing power and are therefore not considered visiting customers). A transaction occurs when a visiting customer becomes a transaction by purchasing something. Therefore, if it is assumed that there is one transaction per vehicle, transactions should then be closely related to vehicle traffic. In addition, assuming some average sale amount per customer, the total sales figures would also be closely related to transactions, customers, and vehicle traffic. The ratio of parking spaces needed to annual transactions varied between the study stores, but not as widely as the square footage-based ratios. The resultant parking ratios ranged from 2,738 annual transactions per required parking space at the Montebello store to 1,915 annual transactions per parking space at the Pomona store. This shows that the Pomona store has more parking demand per transaction than the Montebello store (again, likely due to its location in a shopping center where it will have more browsing customers). The average rate is 2,327 annual transactions per parking space. Again, using the average rate would over-estimate the parking needed for lower performing stores and under-estimate the parking needed for higher performing stores. Therefore, until more data can be collected, it is recommend that the different rates be used according to the store location type. Specifically, a rate of one parking space per 1,915 annual transactions could be applied to new Contractors' Warehouse stores that will be located in shopping centers, and a rate of one parking space per 2,740 annual transactions could be applied to new stores that will be located in industrial areas. More store locations would need to be studied in order to refine these rates and/or calculate a more robust average rate for both store types. Adjustmentsfor Other Parking Lot Uses While the rates and equations detailed above account for the customer, employee, and day-laborer demand for parking spaces, they do not address the other uses of Contractors' Warehouse parking lots. As described previously, there are three other uses of the parking lot beyond providing parking spaces for customers and employees. The first use is cart storage, which is directly related to customer use of the parking lot. The other two uses are sales displays and storage of store Parking Study of Two Contractors Warehouse Stores - Final Report Page 12 A-20 31A-38