Location, Location, Location!
We’ve all heard it before regarding our homes, but what does that actually mean from a commercial real estate perspective?
It can mean different things depending on your type of business. So, let’s start with the basics…
Do you sell goods or services?
If the answer is services, do you go to your customers or do your customers come to you?
If you travel to your customers, then the best location is going to be central to your service area, and in close proximity to a freeway or other major thoroughfare. However, because your customers will rarely travel to your place of business visibility can be low and “frontage” is of low importance.
On the other hand, if your customers come to you, then being central probably matters less than your proximity to a freeway/major road. But at the same time visibility or the ease with which your customers can find you is extremely important.
So what about sellers of goods or so called “retailers”?
Choosing the right space can be the difference between life and death for a retail business. The best question you can ask yourself is who is most likely to buy your goods? Are more of your customers in the higher or lower income bracket? Is age a factor? The more you know about your potential customers, the better I can use local demographics and market knowledge to get you as close as possible to as many of your customers as possible.
Let’s go even deeper!
Some retailers, like a certain well known global coffee chain, have spent millions of dollars analyzing their customer base and setting the stage for their own success. In fact, they know their customers behaviors so well, that they figured out sales are significantly stronger in their locations that are on the “driving-to-work” side of the street. What difference does that make? The easier they can make it for their customers to get in, get out, and get back on their way to work, the more likely they will be to stop in each morning. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? That particular company knows their customers and their behaviors so well that they can apply that knowledge to something as seemingly unrelated as the location of their stores.
Companies like that one, and thousands more retailers around the world think critically about their customers before signing a Lease. You owe it to yourself and the success of your small business to do the same, and once you do, we can help you apply that information to your local market and help you choose the best possible…Location Location Location!