I (Abby) do not have any tattoos. This will come as a surprise to many, who are surely thinking “but she SO cool and edgy. So counterculture! She really makes redlines seem punk rock.” 👩🏻🎤
I do, however, have a number of retail real estate truisms that would come in handy if I ever DID have them tattooed on my body. Chief among them? “EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE”
As we negotiate our deals, Pedal Retailers learn this is true. Pedal Retailers save $115,000 on average per lease – and that’s just just the tip of the iceberg.
✅ Need three months free after you open to ramp up sales? Let’s ask for it.
✅ Need short term parking out front for online order pickup? Let’s ask for it.
...
We hear about it every day from start-up retailers. They call a “for lease” sign, have a (usually) pleasant conversation with the landlord’s broker, and then…nothing. Calls, emails and prayers all go unanswered.
They’ve just disappeared and left a specter of anxiety and dashed hopes. What in the flying phantasm?!
This is usually when the haunted house in your brain kicks into full gear…
😱 Did they think my business concept was stupid?
😱 Do they think I’m an idiot who can’t pull this off?
😱 Am I such an obvious loser that their k
...You know how the saying goes...
💯 Good
⏱️ Fast
🤑 Cheap
You can pick two.
The internet is undecided (shocker!) about the original attribution of the phrase we’ve all heard in some form or another. While we might not know who first spoke this into office decor legend, we know that it’s true…especially when it comes to retail real estate.
💯 + 🤑
Looking for a good space that’s also cheap? It won’t come fast, because spaces like this are hard to find, and negotiations take a long time.
🤑 + ⏱️
Looking for a cheap space that lets you open up shop next month? You’re not going to get a good spot in a prime retail area.
💯 + ⏱️
Looking for a good retail space that lets y...
If you’re not a little nervous about signing a lease, you’re not thinking hard enough.
Truly – it should cause you some anxiety to make a multi-year, legally-enforceable commitment since you literally have no idea what the future holds. Unless you’re a regular at the high-rollers table in Vegas, making a bet valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) is pretty terrifying. And even indie retailers who have signed leases many times over still get nervous.
So how are you supposed to get comfortable with signing a lease if the uncertainty of the future looms so large?
✨ Your business plan is how. (Did you guess I was go...
If I had a dollar for every time an aspiring retailer told me they didn’t have their startup budget solidified because “it’s impossible to know until I find the right space,” I’d probably have a downpayment on a vacation home.
Nailing down a budget for a retail space feels impossible if you’ve never rented a space before, but here’s a pro tip:
✨ The space does not determine your budget – your budget determines the space. ✨
Imagine if I called my residential realtor and said that I was in the market for a new home. And when she asked me for my budget, I responded, “well, I really don’t know yet because it all depends on the space.”
💸 Should she show me a $4M historic home tha...
Our dramatically dwindling attention spans (hello, TikTok) and culture of instant gratification (hello, Amazon Prime) is reshaping everything around us. We can order bulgogi bowls, a case of Modelo, toilet paper, a phone charger, and a hot date…all from our phones and all delivered to our doorstep within 60 minutes.
So, when we tell aspiring retailers that it’s going to take 10 months to a year (or more) to open their brick-and-mortar, we brace ourselves for their disappointment. Most of the time, when we talk to first-timers, they share their plans to open for business in a new space “by the summer” or “in time for the holidays.” Almost always, those opening dates are about three ...
Abby here, and as a new mom, "back-to-school" suddenly means something to me again. Since I graduated from college a "few" years ago, August has run into September with little punctuation. Our DC summer weather stretches into October, and now that we're all wearing our white jeans year-round (that's a thing, right?), I only notice the season change by the number of football jerseys at bars.
Until this year, that is. Baby Stella's class started daycare last week, and already we've been to orientation, a teacher meet-and-greet AND back-to-school shopping.
So as I'm looking forward to the day when my little one learns the alphabet, we thought there was no better time to remind you ...
It’s been the summer of capital budgets over here. Some clients are deep in the throes of business planning, and some are plotting expansions and relocations. But in all cases, creating the Capital Budget* is among the non-negotiable first steps.
Most of our clients come to us with an existing "how much is this gonna cost me" budget; some are pretty thorough, and some not so much, but when we take what they’ve got, stick it into our Capital Budget framework and work with them to fill in all the missing line items, one thing is true across the board…
Everyone underestimates how much it’s going to cost to get open.
Why is this the case? I’m not a licensed psychologist, but I do pla...
