Researching possible location for new shop

Hello,
We're looking at a couple of possible locations for a suitable leasehold retail unit to come available. One is available and has been for a while. Is there anywhere online that we can look back through it's history (like zoopla for house sales?)

The street it's on is a secondary location in the town however there are still some good businesses around it that have been running for sometime and seem to be doing well, so on the surface it looks promising.
Thanks,
W

Comments

  • colino
    colino Posts: 5,059
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    There aren't any real sites to tell you how a business location has worked for others: You either have to stand in the street yourself counting footfall (and guesstimating if those feet carry potential customers for your type of business) or site yourself near a destination business (to drag potential customers past your place) or locate near similar businesses to at least let potential customers have a choice. Unfortunately a lot of businesses start the homework, think it is wasting their time so pick an unsuitable, "cheaper" location with the hope that distributing 5000 cheap flyers will have new customers flocking and satisfied customers of established businesses abandoning sense.
    Be realistic in what you need instead of what you want. A newsagent needs easy, high volume access. A dentist can be in the suburbs and still draw custom.
  • Instead of looking at what is on the market and then trying to work out if it suits you, start from the other end.

    Write a shopping list - what would your ideal premises look like? Think about size of premises, location, availability of parking/bus route, cost, availability of suitable employees, and so on and so forth.

    THEN when premises become available you can compare them to your ideal and decide if you can compromise on anything or if it's a no-go.
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
  • Seanymph
    Seanymph Posts: 2,870
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    Forumite
    Have a chat with the nearby shops.

    They can tell you how many transactions they process a day - and how well they fare where they are.

    Bear in mind though they may want you to move in and fill the space, so look beyond the initial response!
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