This article was written and edited by Steven Brahney, who has 30+ Years of Experience in High-Traffic Retail Pavement Maintenance.
Most pavement contractors won’t say this out loud because they don’t want to hurt the chances of selling you a big sealcoating job.
But after 30 years sealcoating some of the highest-traffic shopping centers, strip malls, convenience stores, and big-box retail in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, I’ve learned one universal truth:
Sealcoating on shopping centers can work—but only when conditions are perfect. And in the Northeast, those conditions almost never exist.
This article is meant to be pure transparency—no pressure, no selling, no hype. Just what I’ve seen, what works, what fails, and what you need to understand before signing off on a project that affects your parking lot, your CAM budget, your tenants, and your long-term paving costs.
Let’s break down the real issues, the risks, the alternatives, and how to make the smartest decision for your property.
Sealcoating is a great product. It protects asphalt from UV rays, vehicle fluids, water infiltration, and surface wear. In places like Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Texas, sealcoating isn’t optional—it’s essential. The sun oxidizes unprotected asphalt at an extreme rate.
But shopping centers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic face a challenge that those regions don’t:
And that’s the heart of the problem.
On paper, sealer takes:
4–8 hours to dry
24–48 hours to fully cure
72 hours+ in shaded or cold areas
On actual shopping centers, what happens?
Tenants start calling when foot traffic drops.
Store managers pressure property management.
Property management calls us asking, “Can we open it early?”
The area reopens far too soon.
Premature wear. Tire marks. Tracking. Scuffing. Sealer pulling off in traffic lanes.
It’s not the property manager’s fault. It’s not even the contractor’s fault. It’s simply the reality of retail traffic.
For sealcoating to last on high-traffic retail:
Entrances must be shut down for long periods
Traffic must be kept out until curing finishes
Work must be done in ideal temperatures and humidity
On a strip mall or shopping center, that means:
Customers complain
Delivery trucks complain
Tenants complain
Ownership gets dragged into it
The contractor gets blamed
And what happens?
The area opens early—and the sealer fails early.
I’ve seen this hundreds of times:
We barricade the lot
We put up cones and tape
Tenants ignore them
Someone drives through anyway
One car damages the fresh sealer
Traffic lines start
The area is reopened to avoid complaints
12 months later, the center looks like it was never sealed
And it’s almost unavoidable unless you have:
A 24-hour supermarket shut down (rare)
A shopping center undergoing renovation
A property willing to enforce closures
Here’s the honest answer:
Sealcoating can work—but only if your property can stay closed long enough for proper curing.
If it can’t, sealcoat will:
Wear prematurely
Look patchy within weeks
Track, scuff, and streak
Require re-coating far sooner
Waste CAM dollars
And that leads us to the better approach…
Walking the site every 90 days catches issues early:
New cracks
Trip hazards
Early raveling
Ponding areas
Catch basin deterioration
Settlement around utility covers
This alone extends asphalt life significantly.
Freeze–thaw cycles in the Northeast destroy asphalt.
Cracks that cost $2–$4 per linear foot to seal right away cost $6–$10 per SF to repair once they spread.
Seal cracks:
After winter
Before winter
This simple routine is the #1 way to double asphalt life.
If you wait on small failures:
They get bigger
Water infiltrates
Base layer weakens
Repairs triple or quadruple in cost
Typical small repair pricing:
Infrared asphalt repair: $225–$350 per 3x6 SF area
Small potholes: $9–$12/SF
Medium cut-outs: $12–$18/SF
Sealcoat is recommended in:
High-sun regions (FL, GA, NC, SC)
Low-traffic commercial sites
HOA communities
Office buildings with weekend closure flexibility
Industrial parks with no weekend traffic
Sealcoat is not ideal for:
Grocery plazas
Strip malls
Shopping centers with constant foot traffic
Retail plazas with strict tenant access requirements
Centers with delivery trucks all day
These are realistic Northeast/Mid-Atlantic numbers based on 2025 market conditions:
Commercial lot: $0.22–$0.30 per SF
High-traffic retail: $0.30–$0.38 per SF
Heavy slurry application by squeegee: $0.40–$0.65 per SF
$1.00–$3.00 per linear foot depending on routing
Budget $1,500–$4,000 per visit for medium-size retail
Most shopping centers should budget:
$0.08–$0.30 per SF annually
(for preventive maintenance depending on the condition of your asphalt)
This allows for:
✔ Quarterly inspections
✔ Twice-yearly crack sealing
✔ Small repairs as they appear
✔ Drainage maintenance
✔ Safety fixes
I’m a sealcoating contractor. I’ve personally managed millions of square feet of shopping center sealcoating projects in 30+ years.
But I’m telling you the truth:
Sealcoating is not always the best choice for shopping centers in the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic. Preventive maintenance is far more effective and gives a much higher ROI.
Does that mean never sealcoat?
No.
It means you should only sealcoat:
When you can close areas long enough
When the sealer can cure properly
When you understand the risks
When you have realistic expectations
If the goal is long-term asphalt preservation, preventive maintenance always wins.
If the goal is a fresh black appearance, sealcoat will achieve that—but with the curing/closure risks outlined above.
My goal is simple:
Give you the information you need to make the best decision for your property—based on reality, not theory, and not a sales pitch.
Quarterly site inspections
Reporting with photos
Crack sealing twice per year
Immediate small repairs
Catch basin monitoring
Trip hazard identification
Emergency repairs (same week)
Budget forecasting
Annual capital plan updates
This keeps your CAM budget predictable and prevents unexpected high-ticket paving projects.
Some contractors will suggest nighttime sealcoating as a way to avoid tenant disruption. On paper, it sounds like the perfect solution: the parking lot gets sealed overnight, and everything is “ready” for customers by morning.
But here’s the reality:
Nighttime sealcoating almost never cures correctly, and it leads to premature wear, tracking, peeling, and customer complaints—every single time.
At night you lose all three:
No UV exposure
Cooler temperatures
Higher humidity
Dew forming on the pavement
Little to no air movement
Sealer may look dry by sunrise, but underneath it is still soft, uncured, and extremely vulnerable to tire twisting, delivery trucks, and turning movements in front of storefronts.
Some manufacturers may verbally “approve” night work to help contractors sell the job, but they will not issue a written warranty guaranteeing:
No premature wear
No tracking
No early failure
No peeling
And the contractor won’t either — because they know night work is a high-risk application with predictable failure.
Even if you wanted to keep the lot closed longer:
Tenants won’t allow it
Deliveries arrive early
Employees arrive before sunrise
Customers ignore barricades
The sealer gets worn off before it ever cures.
Bottom line:
Nighttime sealcoating on shopping centers is not practical, not recommended, and not something anyone can warranty. It’s a shortcut that almost always creates more problems—and more cost—than it solves.
Sealcoating is a great product—but only when used at the right property, at the right time, under the right conditions.
When you take away the marketing, the hype, and the contractor pitch, here’s the truth:
High-traffic retail rarely stays closed long enough
Tenants pressure management
Areas open too soon
Sealer fails prematurely
CAM dollars get wasted
A preventive maintenance program protects your asset every day of the year, not just the one weekend you attempt to sealcoat.
Click the yellow “Instant Quote – Upload Photos” button to:
Upload pictures of your shopping center
Get a condition score
Get pricing for:
Crack sealing
Small repairs
Preventive maintenance programs
Sealcoating (when appropriate)
No pressure.
No games.
No hard selling.
Just accurate, experience-based recommendations.