In a previous blog we posted, we discussed the importance of finding the right retail space for your brick and mortar location. Knowing who your audience is, what their needs are and how your establishment will fit into the commercial makeup of the area are vital to any successful business. Building from those principles, we are now going to consider how a new business can benefit from renovating a space.
Some of the spaces that apply themselves best to being redeveloped for commercial use are shopping centers. It is a fact that many brick and mortar shopping centers have been suffering over the last decade – Sears, Toys R’ Us, K-Mart – but there is still hope for physical locations when they are smartly designed and presented.
Breathing new life into closed stores
You may have heard of Seritage Growth Properties. This company spent nearly $3 billion on purchasing 235 failing Sears locations three years ago. The company has been busy in those years, spending time and resources converting the withering businesses into new, modern and profitable businesses.
In Santa Monica Seritage is planning to convert one defunct Sears location into creative office space designed to fit the specialized needs of technology companies. Across the country on Long Island the company plans to convert an empty Sears into a mammoth 600-unit apartment building. And down the coast in Florida, an empty Sears shopping center is being converted into a high-end shopping complex with luxurious landscaping and restaurants.
While not every business developer will be making multi-billion dollar deals with former juggernauts like Sears, Seritage’s ideas stand out as the type of ingenuity that drives successful brick and mortar locations.
Before development begins
Proper planning is half of the challenge when it comes to business. If you are planning to develop a shopping center, it is vital to have all your bases covered legally. Land acquisition matters can impede your purchase, not performing due diligence with a title or permits may void your projects and construction contracts will always need to be negotiated.
This is a time when professional support is at its most valuable. You have enough issues to solve on a daily basis without pouring over legal documents and arguing prices with surly contractors. Putting these matters in the hands of experienced legal support will give you time to focus on what really matters: your business.
There is no small amount of effort in running a small business. From deciding the best location to making the decision to redevelop your space, you always seem to be faced with major decisions. With proper planning and a little luck, however, these decisions will pay dividends.
