When I did them, I decided that lights should definitely be on at dusk, not necessarily at sunset when it is really still quite light. So I asked Google when dusk was at my location. For comparison, here is what I got just now:
Dusk: 7:42 EDT
Sunset: 7:16
There were some locations where there was nothing across the street. Nowhere to park and nowhere to walk safely. I was told that in those cases it was alright to get as far away as possible on the premises or an adjacent building. There usually wasn't any doubt about was or wasn't turned on.
Question for the OP: In your second message, you said you were going to arrive at 7:30 PM. But in your first message, you said that they close at 7:30 PM. I think one of them must be a typo?
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008