The world of modern retail is complex and there’s lots that business owners need to get right in order to help their businesses thrive.
Choosing the right premises for your retail business is among the most important, with many factors to consider.
An obvious but important point is to make sure that you understand the type of store that you require. After all, if you’re a fast food business, there’s little point in taking a space somewhere people don’t typically go to eat.
Instead, you could look at a shopping centre’s dedicated food court area to be part of an existing cluster of similar businesses where people regularly know to go to find lunch. For example, The Brunel Shopping Centre in Swindon has developed a bustling food court which has become a destination for locals in its own right.
The units in the Brunel’s food court are also specially fitted out to accommodate a fast food business, meaning you can move in quicker and get trading.
The other side of a shopping centre is the shops themselves where all the most popular retailers tend to be gathered so people can visit them all at once. If want to rent a retail unit, this is where you need to be.
A great example of this type of location is North Point Shopping Centre in Hull which has a footfall of more than 6 million people a year and more than 70 retail units. Locals know that they can find whatever they want at North Point, making it the perfect type of retail space in the UK for any retailer looking to access a huge, reliable target audience.
An up-and-coming type of retail space to rent is the retail unit inside a larger mixed-use development. For example, 1 Newbridge Square and 3 Newbridge Square in Swindon both have retail units available to rent as part of their wider commercial offering.
Being part of a development like this has two major advantages. Firstly, shop units to rent are in a great place to catch passing office trade and offer a convenience to workers in the building that guarantees they will use your shop regularly. That’s particularly beneficial to food retailers or shops selling anything else that office workers need regularly.
Secondly, it often means that you can get your shop into a non-retail location that you wouldn’t normally be able to access very easily, opening up a whole new customer base. For example, the commercial retail unit to rent at 18 King William Street is in the heart of London’s financial district next to Bank tube station.
This is not traditionally a retail area, but it has a footfall of millions of people each year, all of whom are in a hurry and looking for convenient solutions. If you can put your business in front of them somewhere like Bank, you will have a great opportunity to thrive and expand your company.
Want to learn more about how to make the most of prime retail space and choose the perfect unit for your business? Browse our available retail units and get in touch with the team today.