2 Choices For Your Business Location
The type of facility you choose depends on the kind of business you have. Ever notice how restaurants, clothing stores, and doctors' offices are usually located near other similar businesses or practices? That's no accident. It is smart marketing.
Shopping Centers: Retailers and service businesses that rely on a great deal of walk-in traffic and exposure often select shopping centers. These commercial centers house many different small businesses as well as one or more well known chain stores that act as anchors and traffic generators. Shopping centers are generally managed by the developer or a professional organization hired by the developer, and most of them require their business tenants to join the center's merchant association. Since the association is responsible for funding the marketing and maintenance of the center's common area, each tenant is expected to pay an additional fee beyond the rent in the lease. In fact, triple-net leases are very popular among shopping center developers, as are percentage leases.
Of all the shopping centers, malls are probably the most expensive in terms of the rent, but they are also popular destinations for consumers. Malls can be totally enclosed, multilevel buildings or open-air facilities.
The main complaints from shopping center tenants relate to the high marketing and maintenance fees stipulated in the leases. For some small businesses, these expenses can gouge net profits. If you're seriously considering leasing space in a shopping center, determine the sales volume your business can reasonably hope to attain and decide what rent you can afford to pay.
Business Parks and Office Buildings: Professional and service businesses often find offices within a business park or office building appealing. Business parks are usually one or more office buildings located on the same lot and managed by the developer or a professional management company hired by the developer. Office space is commonly leased out on a triple-net basis with the tenants sharing the maintenance costs of the building. Many times, this maintenance cost will include service to tenants' offices as well as security.
The advantage of leasing office space in a business park is the professional image it projects. While image is only part of your promotional efforts in building relationships with your client base, it is the part that grabs your clients' attention first. And as the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.