2.  Downtown (City/Urban) Areas  Neighborhood Shopping Centers  Community Shopping Centers  Regional Shopping Centers  Super Regional Shopping Centers

3.  Central Locations near office and professional space  Crime, traffic, and parking issues make for reasons against locating here.

4.  Serves a specific neighborhood  Usually houses supermarkets, dry cleaners, drugstores, etc. For things people need frequently.  Customers are residents of the area.

5.  Serves residents of a wider area & many neighborhoods.  Usually have one or two major tenants, known as ANCHOR STORES. (Department Stores, Discount Stores, Large Supermarkets, Large Drugstores)

6.  Large centers which have several anchor stores, about 40 other stores, and usually in the forms of malls. Rent is high.

7.  Extremely large, housing hundreds of stores.  Most tenants in these centers are large chain stores, as they are the only ones who can afford rent.

8.  Rent is usually least expensive than all other possibilities  Usually located just outside of shopping centers or far away from other businesses.

9.  Generally one of the cheapest locations because they don’t need to look nice on the outside.

10.  Your TRADE AREA is the area from which you expect to attract customers.  You start with a map of the area you want to do business in and add: Markers for locations of your competitors Markers for businesses that attract the same customers as you Markers for possible locations you would want

11.  Buying Space  Can provide tax advantages  Sometimes the loan payment is just as cheap as a rental payment  Can be expensive up front  Locks you in to a location  Will have to pay ALL expenses of the Property  Leasing Space  No responsibility for property taxes and expenses  Can move more readily  Might include maintenance costs, utilities, etc

12.  Gross Lease  Tenant pays rent each month and the landlord covers all property expenses: taxes, insurance and maintenance.  Net Lease  Tenant pays rent, taxes, and expenses. Landlord pays insurance.  Percentage Lease  Tenant pays rent plus the landlord gets a percentage of the tenant’s revenue each month.

13.  Divide the amount of rent you’ll have to pay by the number of customers you expect to service a month. That equals your rent per customer.  Sometimes a larger location with higher rent results in a LOWER rent per customer since you will have MORE customer traffic.  Then it might be worth the higher rent paid.

14.  You should create a floor plan that includes enough space for employees, customers, merchandise and any equipment.

15.  The goal of your layout is two fold:  It should attract customers to your store  It should make their experience a pleasant one so they return. 1. Choose appropriate lighting & window displays 2. Make for an inviting entrance 3. Organize the merchandise in a way that makes sense 4. Use all of the space you have wisely (aisles, walls, displays, registers)

16.  The layout of your service business is JUST as important as a retail business.  When the business is one where customers come to you to receive a service, the layout is critical to make customers feel welcome and for them to return:  Restaurants, hair salons, tax prep, etc.

17.  Your business is going to need the specific supplies & equipment to run your type of business  Your business ALSO needs very standard items like furniture, lighting, and office supplies.

18.  VENDORS are the businesses that sell products and services to other businesses.  Vendors are also often called Suppliers  When you’re buying from your vendor, always ask for a QUOTE which is an official estimate for how much you will pay for their merchandise or service.  Part of dealing with a vendor will be to establish a REORDER POINT with them.  This will prevent you from running out of stock unexpectedly.

19.  A REORDER POINT is a predetermined level of inventory when new stock needs to be purchased.  Work it out with your supplier so they get your inventory to you on time, based on how quickly they can ship it and it gets to you.  Reorder points also need to have other considerations such as: How many units of the item do you actually sell a month? How important is it for you to NOT have any of the stock?