For retailers, convenience stores, restaurants and other location-based businesses, few decisions carry more long-term consequences than selecting a new site.
A company can improve merchandising, staffing, marketing and operations after opening. What it cannot easily change is the location.
That is why disciplined site evaluation should happen before significant capital is committed.
TRAFFIC COUNTS ARE ONLY THE BEGINNING
High traffic does not automatically mean high sales.
A strong site evaluation considers how customers actually interact with the property. Visibility, access, turning movements, signalization, ingress and egress, surrounding development, competing businesses and customer demographics can all influence performance.
For convenience and fuel retail in particular, the relationship between the roadway, fuel canopy, parking, store entrance and customer traffic flow can materially affect the customer experience.
UNDERSTAND THE TRADE AREA
A location should be evaluated in the context of the customers who live, work and travel around it.
Population growth, household income, daytime population, employment, housing development and nearby traffic generators can help determine whether the trade area supports the concept today—and whether it is likely to support it in the future.
STUDY THE COMPETITION
The question is not simply how many competitors are nearby.
Operators should understand who those competitors are, what they offer, how customers access them, how strong their facilities are and where there may be an unmet need in the market.
MODEL THE ECONOMICS BEFORE YOU BUILD
Land cost is only one component of the investment.
Sitework, utilities, construction, fuel infrastructure, equipment, fixtures, technology, financing and working capital can dramatically change the economics of a project.
Before moving forward, ownership should understand the level of sales, margin and cash flow the location must produce to support the investment.
SITE SELECTION IS AN OPERATING DECISION
One of the biggest mistakes in development is treating site selection primarily as a real estate transaction.
The better question is whether the location can become a successful operating business.
That is the thinking behind Keystone Site Validate.
Keystone Strategic Partners combines site intelligence with practical operating experience to help clients evaluate potential locations before making major capital commitments. Our work can incorporate publicly available market data, competitive analysis, site characteristics, development assumptions and operating economics to create a more complete view of the opportunity.
No site evaluation can eliminate risk. But disciplined due diligence can help owners, developers and investors make better-informed decisions before millions of dollars are committed.
Before you buy the land, sign the lease or approve the project, validate the opportunity.
Keystone Strategic Partners can help evaluate the site from the perspective that ultimately matters most: whether the business can work.
