I’ll say it – everyone loves to hate lawyers. They’re right up there with telemarketers and politicians on the list of most maligned professionals, and when you’re scraping together the cash to fund your Capital Budget, legal fees get a lot of scrutiny. And we get it – every dollar counts!

You cannot forgo an attorney for your lease. This has been the subject of numerous other newsletters, and it’s a requirement in our First Location Program. (Don’t believe me? Reply to this email and we’ll happily tell you why.)

You CAN manage your legal fees, but here’s the thing - most people actually do it wrong and end up i) spending more, ii) getting a worse lease, or iii) both. In many situati...

Every so often we hear from clients concerns along the lines of, "so-and-so told me that NO ONE will invest in my business until I have a signed lease."

And every time we hear that, the alarms start ringing in our brains. Here's why...

1. There are very few (if any) things in life that "NO ONE" will do. People regularly compete in hot dog eating contests. People have tigers for pets. People get married for the seventh time. You should automatically be skeptical of claims about what "everyone" or "no one" will do. Listen to what the person is telling you, but stay calm, and don't let those claims psych you out or have you thinking that there is only one way to do something. This advice appl...

Okay, before we start, let me just acknowledge how much I hate the fact that I’m using a woman’s aging as the centerpiece of this article, but you all already know that I do my part in smashing the patriarchy AND I love a perfect metaphor. So here we are.

I saw this meme the other day about how Anne Hathaway looks pretty much exactly like she did 20 years ago. Now we all know why that’s the case, right? Clearly the woman won the genetic lottery, but she’s also been “investing” in maintaining her 19-year-old face since she was 19.

Now I’m sure this meme was trying to sell me something to stick in or on my face, but do you know what the image mashup made ME think of? You guessed it. Reta...

You probably already know that the cost of building out a retail space is often the single largest line item in a pre-opening budget. The fact of the matter is that there’s not a whole lot to be done about this. If you need to modify a space to suit your business, you’re going to spend some serious cash — the more dramatic the changes, the more dramatically you’ll need to dig into your wallet.

If you’re do any sort of construction work, many of the costs will be beyond your (and even your contractors’) control. Every commercial contractor is working with the same framework: labor, materials, overhead, and profit. Remember, they’re running businesses, too.

So, even though there may not be a...

ICYMI:  “LOI” stands for Letter of Intent, and it refers to the short document that you and your landlord will trade back and forth to nail down the most important business terms of a potential lease -- the fundamental elements of your relationship together.

We’ve heard it so many times from first-time retailers. “Oh, I already got an LOI on that space, so this is how much the rent costs.” NO, SIR! This is not Crate&Barrel where standard shams cost $39 and a glittered foam apple costs $72. 

When you start searching for the right space, you’re not in a Crate&Barrel at all. You’re in a loud, crowded Turkish bazaar. You browse stalls until you find something that catches your eye, and then th...

We've got some thoughts on searching for the "one" perfect retail space, and why the entire premise is misguided and potentially derailing.

We've all seen fictionalized accounts of a lovelorn someone searching for the "perfect" partner. You know the ones -- we watch as the protagonist goes on an endless string of first and second dates, only to determine that no suitor is right, much to the frustration of their friends and family who keep urging them to stop being so picky. Like Molly's friends and family in Insecure before things got serious with Taurean.

Is this entire concept pretty antiquated and ridiculous? Yes. Is it relevant to retail real estate? Also, yes.

You see, ...

Are Free Rent and TIs a Scam?

When I studied abroad in Florence, one of the very first things our professoressa told us about Italy was that "niente è libero" - nothing is free. (She also taught us that bottled water is more expensive than wine, and to always carry proper bus fare.)

All these years later, I still remember it, and I feel my "niente è libero" spidey senses tingling when I see an offer that seems too good to be true.

Like a free drink from a handsome stranger at the discoteca. Like a pair of very real looking Ferragamos selling for a fraction of MSRP. Like when a retail landlord offers TI ($$ towards your buildout) or free rent at the start of your lease.

Are landlord...