What to look for when deciding a location for your retail store ?

What I mean here is that, when you searching a location for your store you should be fully aware about your clientel. Say for an example if you have a product which is targeted at the lower middle class you can not really open a store in a really posh area, not that people won't come to your store but you won't have your target audience coming to your store as the lower middle class people would generally avoid going to a posh location to shop.

This idea though has a lot of hypothecations for it.

first we think why the customer will come at the shopping first they have environment so we vocationally we keep the products we get go sales.

Intensive research for that particular area.One should look for catchment area.Is the profile of people or customers do visit the particular area which matches with your product which you are selling.Second is the rentals, are they ok enough to do break even asap.Third the connectivity are the area located in the mid of the city or in convinient place where customers can drop in easily.Fourthly the parking avaibility for cunsumers who will drive in to your store, and many more it can be taken till micro level to analysis before opening any retails store.

The Selection of location is the most important factor for the success of the stores the historical ,current ,and futuristic approch of the customer to be taken care .

Reachability and trafic movement and acessebility of the locations must be analyse for the targeted customers .

I THINK PROPER CATCHMENT STUDY IS MOST IMPORTANT.

sam walton said the three most important things for a successful retail store are 1) location 2) location 3) location.  by saying location it does not mean  that it has to be in the midst of a thriving marketplace to get instant footfalls> but it could also set up a market keeping the present day musts for any retailer to survive . i.e., visibillity of the store / parking and an  accessible address.!!

Hi All

Apart from the points/ideas given by SME, like to add few more to give a dimension to the discussion:

-Can you hold old customers and attract new ones?

-Would the location offer the best sales volume potential for your kind of merchandise?

-Can you benefit enough from the location's access to a market? If so, can you produce the appeal that   will make the location's customers come to your store?

-Can you deal with your logical competition?

To answer few of the above questions?

- The trade area and its growth prospects;

-The general income level in the trade area;

-The number of households; and

-The share of various age groups in the population

Well i strongly beleive that when we say location its just not the Store Location Itself , The following things play vital role in selecting the LOCATION :-

1> Correct Zoning :- This is where you look for the competitors as the mall being too big to be covered across , its very important to be in the correct zone along with your competitors as the Potential buyer generally browses in the same zone.

2> When & How do people come :- Inorbit Mall is the best example for this as you will always see people in their , the idea here is does the MALL have enough amenities to pull in the customers like a Food Court , Theatre , parking space also Proximity to residentials areas ETC. whats the catchment of the MALL.

3> Acessibility :- " JO DIKHTA HAI WOH BIKTA HAI " as they say , the merchandise should be visible & accessible to the customers , i personally feel LIFESTYLE stores have a very good layout in this context.

This is what i would call the subsets of a RIGHT LOCATION.

Have a look at when do people get to the area and how they come.

Check out the parking conditions and cost, if the parking cost is more people won't prefer to come right and this is going to affect your business. Also find out the busy timing, and do find out is it just a window shopping people do or they spending money.

I prefer the location should be accessible.

Find out how accessible is the location ?

If its very hard people just won't make the extra effort. Make sure that their is a shelter to access the shop during raining season. 

Understanding the question more wrt the comments of the experts I eould like to clear certain points that while answering a question we had to select only option. It is indeed very difficult to come down on only one selection. It is truly said that ' RETAILING MEANS DETAILING'. tHATS WHY i see that for major categories of the merchandise I beleive that location plays a crucial role. Many other aspects apart from these when we brainstorm comes ti a conclusion that effective location plays a very important role in retail.

I think the first aspect to look for will be the location. Depending on the product the location of the store will play an important role. Deciding on the parameters like whether we would like it a convienent  store etc....

I think that there needs to be an indepth study of the purchase power of a locality before even zeroing down on a LOCATION. The determination of the SEC of the locality will be directly proportional to the saleability of the product that you offer.

Area Areas -Banks,petrol Pumps,School & Colleges,Atms,Cooperative Societies.........this will give added word of mouth Marketing of your New Store & spred awareness among the Customers.

first a market survey has to be conducted for knowing customer mindset for the intended product.economic situation of majority of customers in and around the selected business place is a must.what i mean to say is starting a 5 star hotel in a place where majority are lower income class people are living is of waste.so buying power of customer for that particular product is to taken into consideration along with place is very much necessary.