Open A Dollar Store At The Right Location

The proper location for most retail stores is very important. In the dollar store business it is important for our clients to seek busy traffic areas and consumer walk by traffic areas. Basically, cities are broken down into four types:

LARGE METROPOLITAN AREA - population base greater than 500,000

METROPOLITIAN AREA - population between 380,000 and 500,000

MEDIUM SIZED CITY - population between 50,000 and 350,000

SMALL COMMUNITY - population less than 50,000

Each of these four different population centers have different demographic requirements. For example, in a large metropolitan area the store should be located in a shopping center perferable with an anchor that generates sufficient traffic.

Examples of the criteria that may be important in selecting your location are: population based within a certain distance of the store, averge residential income, location of competition, traffic counts, size of community, and average sales of the anchor.

Rule of thumb is this, if the town or city has a Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, or Dollar General Store in it, then it is big enough. They've already done all the research. The ideal location would be, to be right beside one of these stores because you would get some of their traffic as well.

We recently made a mistake trying to open up a very small Christian Dollar Store (400 square feet) ourselves in a small town with none of these ( Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Dollar General) stores in it. The town had a population of only 3000 people. It was only open for 6 months before shutting down. The town was New Concord, Ohio. So dont make the same mistake we did. A good location is a must.

Once the proper location is identified, you will need to negotiate your lease agreement to obtain the lowest possible rental rate, free rent period (including fixturization), tenant improvement allowances, etc. Have your attorney look it over for you before you sign it.

Once you have the location picked out and the lease signed we will do a story on the new location and put it on our website to get the word out. We will also list the store and it's location on our website for your customers. Customers all over the world will know where you are.