Think of your local town centre:
◆ the shops on the top floor of the indoor shopping centre that are never as busy as those downstairs;
◆ the street that used to be so busy before the one-way system was brought in and now nobody walks down there or can park there;
◆ the number of times in the past five years that the shop round the corner from the main precinct has changed hands … four, five, six? Make sure you are not number seven.
The best location for any shop looking for passing trade will be the one with the most passers-by and you will be looking to rent the best location you can afford. Shops are classed as being in:
◆ Primary Locations
– the busiest part of the High Street
– the main entrance to a busy shopping centre
– the centre of things
◆ Secondary Locations
– the quieter ends of the High Street
– the approach roads to the main shopping area
– not quite in the centre of things
Then there are others that I will put in a third group
◆ the ‘Terminal’ Location
– the one where it is only a matter of time before the latest tenant goes out of business.
If the only shop to rent in the whole town is at the end of a no-through alleyway, with derelict and boarded up warehouses all around, don’t kid yourself. Customers are not going to come flocking down there just to see what you sell. If the location is in any way quirky – upstairs, on its own, off the main drag – it will not be as profitable as the one 50 metres away that is in a secondary, but conventional location.
Generally a primary location will be too expensive for a small independent just starting out.
In December 2008 the cheapest available shop to let in Bluewater Shopping Centre, Kent, was £108,000 per annum for 640 sq ft. In the Trafford Centre, Manchester, the smallest unit available was 1,989 sq ft for £355,000 per annum. With rates of £125,000, a service charge of £20,000 plus a management fee of 7.5% per annum, you need very deep pockets indeed to get started in places like these.
