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pr o p E r t y
A Quick
Checklist For
Smart Retail
Property
Investors
Guarantee beneficial
returns on your
property buys
Retail properties can make or break an investor. What
seemed like a good deal at the time could end up being
the ruin of an unwary buyer. The following checklist will
help you ensure sound returns on your retail property.
Four items to check
Seeking, selecting and buying a property can be a complicated,
strenuous affair, so arming yourself with brief, to-the-point
checklists like the one below is an ideal way to keep on top
of things.
Here is a brief list to check when considering a retail investment.
• How is the customer traffic?
• How is the timing of the offer?
• How is the location?
• How will I market the location?
How is the customer traffic?
Customer traffic should never be neglected. All retail shops need
customers to physically walk into the store before business can
be conducted, so high customer traffic is crucial. Remember
that no amount of marketing can make up having for little to
no traffic; who’s going to be around to take advantage of your
promotions anyway?
Therefore, you want to check first and foremost that the retail
unit enjoys high customer traffic and good flow. It should be
easily accessible at all times of the day, and it should also enjoy
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En t r E p r E n E u r s’ Di g E s t
high visibility. Nothing turns a potential customer off faster than
a difficult-to-find or hard-to-access location.
For that reason, it is worthwhile to consider spending a little
more for a shop with a prominent shop-front. All things being
equal, customers are going to patronise the shop that is the
easiest to locate and enter.
How is the timing of the offer?
It may be tempting to jump in and grab that newly vacated unit
at the established shopping mall. After all, fortune favours the
bold, does she not? But before you grab the bull by the horns
and go ahead with your fine china shop, you might want to
check the timing of the offer.
Consider the maturity of the mall your offered retail space is
located in: it should not to be too young, nor too old.
If the shop is located in a mature mall, its price would have
appreciated some. You could therefore be paying top dollar for
the unit, lengthening the period before you start seeing returns.
Instead, wait a while for the price to come down.
If the shop is located in a newly built shopping centre, you run
the risk of picking up a dud; the shopping complex may have
trouble attracting the necessary critical mass of customers,
making it difficult for you to lease out your unit. Instead,
observe the shopping centre for a while more to better gauge
the potential of your targeted unit.