Month: August 2019

In todays economy we are all struggling to make ends meat!

Trying to pay bills and keep up with things we would like to have are extremely hard today but,
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Occupancy Cost

After obtaining information regarding the cost of tenant improvements, you should be able to estimate the cost of occupancy for your retail space. This will include rent, CAM charges, utilities and the amortized cost of tenant improvements.

CAM

CAM charges referred to comment area maintenance. Practice may vary from area to area, but in most areas this includes not only maintenance expenses but also the cost of taxes and insurance. Most leases for retail space include a partial or complete pass through for basic operating expenses, insurance, management, and property taxes. The landlord or leasing agent should be held to provide an estimate of these charges for your space.

Amortized TI

The amortized cost of your tenant improvements will be the cost over the term of your lease. To keep matters simple, if you are spending $60,000 to renovate your space, and your lease is for five years (60 months), include $1000 per month for the cost of tenant improvements.

Are You Paying Too Much?

Next research the occupancy cost compared to what others in your industry are spending. You may want to review occupancy cost on a dollars per square foot basis, percentage of sales basis and a dollars per month per location basis. If possible, determine what other similar businesses in your area are spending monthly for their total cost of occupancy.

Occupancy Cost Data Sources

Research the information available from industry associations and related publications for information on occupancy costs. It is sometimes referred to based upon dollars per square foot per year. It is more often referred to as a percentage of sales. If this is your first store, it will be difficult to estimate your sales. If you have other locations, you should be able to make an educated guess regarding the probable level of sales for this location.

Dollars per Month per Store?

In some cases, it may also make sense to review the cost of occupancy on a dollars per month basis. For example, if your existing stores tend to have a similar level of revenue, focus on locating retail spaces which meet minimal criteria and have the lowest monthly occupancy cost. Conversely, perhaps any store will have an excess amount of space for your real needs.

Rent per Month Example

For example, perhaps you operate a seasonal income tax business. During the peak of the season, there’ll only be two people in the store (you and your assistant). Based on previous experience, there are no locations which will provide the minimal amount of space you truly need. Further, since you are only leasing a modest amount of retail space for 4 months per year, landlords have not been particularly accommodating. Hence, a location which meets minimal criteria and has the lowest cost for the tax season may be your best option.

Criminal Activity?

Finally, research criminal activity in the area for the retail space you are considering. In many cases, it is apparent whether an area is likely on the low crime rate or high crime rate end of the spectrum. However, considering the investment of time and capital necessary to open a store, it would be very disappointing to learn your retail space was near a hotbed for criminal or gang activity shortly after opening.

Example

Consider the following example. A retail center in north Houston had been a prosperous shopping center on a major thoroughfare for 15 years. Shortly after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, many evacuees from New Orleans settled in Houston. For whatever reason, a large number of New Orleans residents who were criminals located in the adjacent apartment complex. During the next 12 months, there were three murders on the retail center property. Occupancy fell from 80% to 30% because of the problems.

Crime Data Sources

Options for researching criminal activity within an area include online crime reports, discussions with tenants at the property, and discussions with police officers who are active in the area.

Online

In most cases, the information from the services will adequately address the issue of criminal activity near the retail space you’re considering. However, the most current and contextual data you’ll be able to obtain is from tenants at the property and local police officers.

Speak to Tenants

Tenants at the property where you’re considering leasing retail space can be a wonderful resource. They can provide information regarding crime in the area, tenants who have left the center, problems with traffic, problems with ingress and egress, problems with parking, and the trend in the center. Retailers within a retail center typically trade notes or visit with each other. Ask if business has been getting better, or is business declining for the businesses within the center?

Area and Property Criminal Reports

Area police officers are another excellent resource regarding criminal activity in the area. In most cities, you can obtain information regarding criminal records for any address. The records are public information. All you have to do is request the information and pay for the cost of copies.

Speak to the Source

In addition, in most cities the police are willing to visit with you if you are considering opening a business. Expect them to be very direct regarding criminal activity and trends in the area. It is possible they will discourage you from opening a store in a location you’re considering. However, is much better to not open a store in a poor location then to open the store and have to close the business.

The Market Research and Consulting division of OConnor & Associates provides information necessary to make decision to commercial real estate professionals. Occupancy and Rental Data, ownership and management information are routinely gathered for four major land uses multifamily, office, retail and industrial. This information allows investors to compare competitive properties, facilitate business decisions and track market and submarket performance.

Customer satisfaction is achieved through ensuring that the customer experience is entirely positive. Easy navigation and proper organization can benefit almost any retail storefront. That being said, when organizing your goods, especially smaller items, remember that candy jars are not just for candy stores. In fact, many retail businesses can benefit from their presence.

General stores, dollar stores, supermarkets, and department stores can all benefit from having a little something extra on the counter for customers to peruse while waiting in line. By putting small, inexpensive items, like individual pieces of candy or small children’s toys, in decorative containers, it will encourage a sale. This is a great way to increase revenue in stores with varying types of customers.

Hardware stores can make great use of these containers because they carry a lot of small items that need to remain separated and organized. Just by using jars like these, one type of each sort of hardware, whether it be nails, screws, bolts, et cetera, can be kept in each jar. They can then be placed side-by-side and labeled, making it easy for customers to navigate and find what they need quickly and easily.

Beauty supply stores also carry lots of small items, many of which are the same but come in many colors, like small eyeshadow compacts and nail polish bottles. By lining up a row of candy jars, it will be easy to keep the colors separated to show off the inventory to the customers. Customers always appreciate anything that keeps their shopping experience quick and easy, so this is an instance where jars will work out well.

Finally, of course, any establishment that sells candy or sweets can find plenty of uses for containers like these. They are great for holding individually wrapped treats, like foil-wrapped chocolates. They are also great for toppings like marshmallows and gummy bears in places such as ice cream parlors. It is both easy to see what is inside and easy to serve oneself with these containers.

Candy jars can give a business the boost of customer satisfaction it needs. There is nothing better as a shopper than being able to easily see what varieties of items are available without having to rummage through overstocked bins. In addition, they will give a tidy and well-maintained store, which shows that the management cares, creating an atmosphere that causes a customer to want to return.

With temperatures already soaring in the UK, many shops and retailers will be wondering whether we are in store for another summer of 06. This renowned year saw recorded temperatures as high as 97.7oF in Wisley, Surrey and the two month period during June and July has gone down on record as the hottest summer since records began over 200 years ago.

If New York is anything of an example to the rest of the world, then retailers can benefit from periods of excessive heat, as consumers seek creative ways to escape the temperatures and resort to some retail therapy on their local high street and out of town retail parks.

And therein lies the issue. Consumers now expect to enjoy their shopping experiences in cool environments and in particular, the air curtain was designed to keep cool air in the stores and dowse the shopper in a refreshing wave as they enter a store.

However, it is estimated that the UKs high street stores waste 300million a year in energy costs to keep shoppers cool in summer and warm in winter, so how can retail bosses align this excessive waste with the demands of their consumers? Perhaps we can learn from our counterparts over the pond, given that they deal with a heat wave on an annual basis?

1. Have your existing, in-built air conditioning serviced well ahead of summer to make sure it is running efficiently. And if you are concerned about any mini-heat waves during downtime, then consider hiring portable air conditioning to cover the intervening period.

2. Have an emergency back-up plan in place if your air conditioning breaks down. Portable air conditioning companies can supply units that replicate the existing system and they will be able to act most efficiently if you put a contingency plan in place before an emergency strikes.

3. Plan ahead for busy periods within the retail outlet: if you are planning a sale, a new range or something similar you may choose to hire in portable air conditioning as extra capacity for key areas of the store, such as the changing rooms and till areas etc.

4. It is also common sense to have a contingency plan in place if temperatures spiral so high that your shop or retail outlet requires additional air conditioning.

5. When your air conditioning is in use – make sure you use it effectively by keeping doors and windows closed. It is a retail myth that propping the doors open may entice more consumers in to a shop. In fact New York has passed legislation actually banning many stores from leaving their doors open during the summer months. This not only helps reduce your carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions but will also reduce your energy bill. It has been estimated that stores that leave doors open waste around 20-25% of the air conditioning they produce.

6. Set the thermostat to a reasonable temperature. The Carbon Trust recommends that buildings do not need to dip below a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius but in the summer of 2010, some outlets were found to set their indoor temperature as much as 8 degrees less than outside, which is unnecessary.

7. Talk to employees about the most suitable temperature in your shop or retail outlet. If they are forced in to wearing their winter woollies to work during the summer months, then the air conditioning settings need a rethink.

When a heat wave hits, it can be tempting to hire the largest available air conditioning unit. However, it is always worth seeking guidance on the type and size of system for individual circumstances to both maximise the effective removal of hot air and avoid unnecessary operating costs. In particular, within a retail setting, it is necessary to consider the health and safety aspects of hiring portable air conditioning to ensure there is a suitable location away from the main areas of highest footfall.

Whilst some shoppers may momentarily appear to enjoy being engulfed in cool air, increasing numbers of consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious and appreciate the need for shops to exercise restraint when temperatures start to rise.

In this tenth and final part of a series of articles about how to survive as a small retailer, I will summarize the main points from the articles and have a look at what the future holds.

Retailing is one of the toughest businesses there is. The reason is that, although trade may be steady, it is a low margin business. This means you work long and hard for little reward. You are in a market where the customers are very knowledgeable about the products they are buying and the have a preset idea of what range of price they are prepared to pay. You are in a business where “the big order” never comes. All you can do is grow your business steadily and hope that a superstore doesn’t open over the road and steal your customers. If you seriously struggling as a small retailer, the first thing to ask yourself is “am I ready for the fight?”. If you have doubts, it may be time to quit right now. On the other hand if you are up for it, by working to your strengths as a small retailer and by hanging in there, the rewards may be better than you imagined.

Some people bemoan the demise of small stores and blame the large chains for their downfall. Superficially this is true, but this is like Yahoo! blaming Google for its downfall (should it ever happen) or radio stations blaming television for losing audience and advertising revenue. I suspect that few of the people who want small stores kept as museums would be prepared to support them by buying goods from them if they are given the choice of better value for money in a chain store over the road. So get real. Forget blaming the opposition. You need to do this for yourself. You never know, you

may one day expand your business into a large chain yourself – and then the little guys may all blame you!

If you are struggling as a small retailer then the most obvious thing you need to do is to change what you do. Some changes may be low cost and easy, others may require you to invest in the business and will mean a lot of effort and commitment. The key thing is to compete with other stores by working

to your strengths. The greatest strength a small local retailer has is that it is small and local. Large chains cannot be small and, although an individual branch is local, it’s primary focus is to the company and not the community it serves. Large chains will never be good at buying local products. Fragmenting buying power from localities is a contradiction of the way large chains are structured. They buy in bulk for a large customer base spread over large areas – that is why their prices are competitive. On the other hand, a small retailer can forge links with local producers. There may be a factory down the road that makes toy cars (OK then, a factory down the road that imports and packs toy cars that are nowadays made in China). You may also have a local dairy that sends their milk to a large store chain but may be happy to sell you a few pints each day. Explore your locality – you may be surprised at what you discover, and the bargains that you can negotiate by going straight to the source rather than through a wholesaler. Offering your customers local products is a good way of demonstrating one of your greatest strengths and having your own unique selling point (USP). You may even be first in the queue for new product trials. This will give your store a very specific and potent USP.