How To Choose The Right Location For Your Shop

Picking a spot for your shop isn’t just about what’s available or what’s affordable – it’s about setting yourself up for success from day one. The fact is that a great location can bring in passing foot traffic, help your brand stand out, and even reduce some of your marketing efforts. But the wrong one can leave you wondering where everyone’s gone and why you even bothered in the first place. It’s clear this is something you’ve got to get right, so keep reading to find out more about how to choose the right location for your shop.

Think About Your Customers First

Before you look at units or measure up window displays and start getting a bit carried away (not that that’s a bad thing all the time!), ask yourself where do your ideal customers already spend their time? If you’re targeting young professionals, maybe you want to be near commuter routes or cafés. If you’re going after families, maybe somewhere near schools, parks, or a supermarket makes more sense.

The key is that it’s not just about geography – it’s about lifestyle. You want to position yourself where your customers naturally go, not where you hope they might end up one day – it’s the quickest and easiest route to take, and in business, that’s always the right option.

Physically Look Around

You’ll always need to do plenty of research when you’re looking for a shop space, and one of the most underrated bits of research you can do is to walk the area – literally go there and wander about. It’s a good idea to visit at different times of day as well, and on different days of the week, as well as at the weekend – that’s going to give you a lot of useful information to go on. So is it bustling in the morning but dead after lunch? Do people stop to look in shop windows, or are they just passing through?

There’s a lot you can pick up from being in the area itself, and these are things you’d never get from a Google search or a property listing. It can also be worthwhile getting friends and family to do the same thing because the more opinions you’ve got to help you, the better.

Don’t Forget Practicalities

It might sound obvious, but access and parking matter, and if people can’t find your shop or don’t know where to park, they’re less likely to visit. You’ll also want to check what kind of businesses are nearby because that can make a big difference too (and it’s something you might not think about). For example, are there any complementary ones that could boost your traffic? Or are there any competitors too close for comfort? You’ll also want to think about your own commute. You’ll be going there a lot, so you need to make sure it’s a location you’ll be happy in.

In the end, once you’ve found the right spot, don’t forget to register a company properly before you start trading, otherwise all the time and effort you put in could be for nothing, and that’s the last thing you’ll want.