Access

Little or inconvenient parking in the suburbs can mean disaster. Not true in the city. Retailers who in the suburbs demand six spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space must instead look at access to the site by other modes of transportation such as walking, bus, and metro.

Traffic Patterns

Retailers want to know how many potential customers will go by their store. It pays to know the population density, median household income, daytime and nighttime population for the site under consideration. Robert Tack of Capital Retail Group says, “It’s very important to understand the daytime vs. nighttime traffic patterns and how this affects your business. You can expect a lot more daytime traffic in the central business district than in the evening. “

Retail Competition

Retailers should know the co tenants in any area they are considering. Urban stores often rely on foot traffic generated by synergistic or potentially competing retailers. Anchor or large tenants usually establish the basic customer profile, but the type of smaller tenants is more critical in city neighborhoods.

Store Size

The best retailers find out how to do more in less space in city locations. Focus on where the sales will be highest when evaluating urban retail locations. Evaluating more expensive locations with a smaller store size is justified if higher sales are projected as a return on investment.

Customer Profile

Regardless of suburban or urban sites, retailers must know who their customer will be. Premier retailers such as Starbucks and Target have developed precise customer and location profiles by combining hundreds of data points including historical customer sales data and detailed shopping demographics. New retailers won’t have such elaborate profiles but still can find free data sources. Retailers can create their own grading system by assigning a score to elements such visibility, access, daytime population, household income, and traffic counts. A minimum acceptable score can be applied as a guideline helping a retailer avoid choosing poor performing locations.

Body Smith owner Stuart Smith says, “You will find everything you need in a clean, friendly, non-threatening, environment. We will be offering all the amenities of a large club in an inviting, service-oriented, neighborhood gym.” Stuart goes on to say, “We are excited about expanding our current footprint. It will benefit our potential and existing clients alike.”

Robert Tack, CEO of Capital Retail Group partnered with Todd Sherbacow of McBride Real Estate in representing the tenant. Lee Engle and with Street Sense, handled lease negotiations for the landlord. Todd Sherbacow says, “The building is perfectly set up for a gym with concrete floors and open space”.

Even though the Logan Circle area has several gyms, most are high end with memberships costing at least $130 per month. Body Smith will offer memberships more moderately priced. Says Capital Retail Group’s Robert Tack, “There will always be demand for a neighborhood gym offering a strong value in the marketplace.” He goes on to say, “The Powell building is surrounded by an affluent professional population providing Body Smith with the density essential to their success.