Sheila here, saying Χαίρετε! That’s hello in ancient Greek, apparently. If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, you know that I love to connect my nerdy interests du jour to retail real estate. Today we’ll visit the 12th century BCE, where the drama would definitely be on Bravo if Andy Cohen had been there.
Some months back, I wrote about the story of Oedipus, and how (obviously) it’s a cautionary tale about retail real estate. Lucky for you, my off-duty self hasn’t left the ancient world, and I don’t see a departure anytime soon. Firstly because there’s about a thousand years of material, and secondly because it’s basically Game of Thrones on a recognizable map.
Whil...
Pedal Retail Advisors is thrilled to announce the highly anticipated expansion of Abby's family. 👶 At 3:30pm on March 4th, Henry Owen Rocha signed an 18 year deal on 125 square feet of nursery space.
This 8 lb 2 oz joyful addition will join Big Sister Stella, est. 2024, who has demonstrated strong month-over-month growth with some recent successes conquering potty training and “feeding the baby” at school. This long-term deal will include 24/7 operations and a highly engaged staff.
“This was a strategic expansion we’ve been thoughtfully planning for some time,” said Henry's mother and landlord Abby Davids Rocha. “After an exhausting 40 weeks and some very intense negotiations at ...
There are videos floating around the internet of dogs “choosing” their humans for adoption. Have you seen them? I’m not crying, you are!
Actually, I am definitely crying. In these videos, the humans show up with the intent of bringing home a dog, but by trusting the process, their open mindedness really pays off.
🐶 This deal was a little bit like that. 💞
Joseph Ryan, owner of Force Free DC, wasn’t just looking for any four walls and a leash lease, lol. He’s DC’s top-rated dog trainer (two-time Best of DC, no big deal), and his business had outgrown its temporary setup. That’s when he called Pedal. We came, we sat, and we stayed. (Sorry, but there are going to be a lot of...
Pedal Retail Advisors was recently featured in the Washington Business Journal’s Small Biz Spotlight, highlighting our work helping independent retailers navigate commercial lease negotiations and retail real estate strategy.
The article focuses on a challenge we see every day: commercial leasing can be complex, high-stakes, and difficult for first-time retailers to navigate without in-house expertise.
Commercial Leasing Is a Structural Challenge for Small Retailers
The commercial real estate industry works well for established brands with internal real estate teams. It is far less intuitive for new and independent retailers.
Many founders enter lease negotiations without knowing:
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Opening your first retail location is a lot like having a first baby. The experience takes over your brain and consumes your world.
Though my first pregnancy in 2023-24 feels like ancient history thanks to the fog of parenthood, I remember it all too well. I counted down to every appointment, my husband attended them all, and I recounted them in detail to my mother. (If memory serves, Sheila even attended an appointment! All small businesses are family businesses, amirite?) I read books, took e-courses, traveled to the end of the internet to find the perfect glider-rocker, and you better believe I had my hospital bag ready six weeks before my due date.
I see something very si...
This is probably not news to you, but since we send these newsletters every week, I basically move through life asking myself how to make this thing I [saw / heard / experienced] into content that at least mildly connects to retail real estate. When I find something that provides multiple angles, I’m thrilled. So thank you, Disney and Taylor Swift, for making the six-part docuseries The End of An Era about the record-breaking The Eras Tour. Also, thanks to my sister who told me I should watch it and that I’d probably cry. She was right about both.
To refresh your memory, the tour included 149 shows in 51 cities on 5 continents over the course of 21 months. At each performance, Taylor an...
My favorite part of the Dream Space Accelerator comes at the very end. Without fail, right when we’re finally done with the Powerhouse Business Plan, I get to hear some version of this:
🤯 I am so grateful that I did this, because there was so much I hadn’t thought about. I had no idea how much I had to consider, and I was sure I’d covered everything before we started.
And then I respond with some version of this:
🎭 How could you have known? Unless you’ve opened a retail business before, you’d have zero reason to know 75% of this stuff. Retail is theater!
And it truly is. What we experience as consumers – picking up a latte, going to a yoga class, ordering a beer – is the sta...
👋 Hi, it's Faith! I'm exciting to share my first official Pedal blog today. I'll be popping up alongside Sheila and Abby now and again, so if something sounds new or foreign to these pages (like competitive running or vegetarian cooking), don't panic...it's just me. Enjoy!
If you’re like me and 90% of my friends, your new years resolutions involve some version of: “getting to the gym more,” “eating healthier,” or “running a marathon" -- fun crowd we are, I know. But we’re also committed, and training for and running a marathon will keep us motivated all year long.
What do we do first? We develop personalized training plans. Getting “marathon ready” is anything but standard, so how lo...
