choosing the best small business location – GoForth Institute Blog

The 30 most important small business location factors

Have you found what appears to be the perfect location for your small business? Great! But first, ask yourself these 30 important questions to make sure it’s the ideal location for you:

Do the zoning requirements allow for my business type?
What is the condition of the building – are any repairs or renovations required?
Does the location’s layout fit my requirements?
Is the location the appropriate size for my business? (Consider storage, office, workroom, manufacturing equipment sizes, etc.)
Is the location suitable for my daily commute?
Do I have access to all required utilities?
Do the surrounding businesses bring favourable traffic to the location?
When conducting community research, does my target market have access to this location? Is the location suitable for a substantial portion of my target market?
Do the leasing, renting, or buying terms fit my requirements?
How much will it cost, and how long will it take, to get my internet and phone up and running?
Are my signs and outdoor advertisements visible to traffic?
Is the labour force in the area suitable for my staff requirements? Are wage scales similar to or lower than other location options?
What is the local Chamber of Commerce activity like?
Does the location meet my accessibility requirements?
Is parking available and affordable for customers and staff?
Is public transportation available?
Is the location consistent with the image I’ve communicated through branding and marketing?
What lifestyle factors, schools, and community activities are present?
Am I close enough to suppliers and manufacturers?
Can deliveries be made to this location?
Are the costs of transporting goods and shipping to and from this location similar to or lower than other location options?
Are competitors located nearby?
If competitors are nearby, am I confident in my ability to compete?
Is the crime rate in the area tolerable for my business, and are security services available?
What times of the day and week will provide the most traffic at this location? Am I able to operate in the evening and is there adequate exterior lighting to attract evening customers?
What will my insurance cost at this type of location?
Later on, will this location be able to accommodate growth of my business?
How do rental costs and lease agreement terms compare to other location options? Break this down to cost per square foot and compare to your revenue per square foot.
How long is the lease and does this fit with my requirements?
Does the current lighting meet my needs? Are window displays available? Are shelving units or wall displays provided or am I allowed to install them?

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GoForth’s 30-question location suitability checklist

small business location checklist

Recently, we shared the seven components of a great business location. Once you’ve narrowed down your location search, ask yourself these 30 important questions to further assess its suitability:

Do the zoning requirements allow for my business type?
What is the condition of the building – are any repairs or renovations required?
Does the location’s layout fit my requirements?
Is the location the appropriate size for my business? (Consider storage, office, workroom, manufacturing equipment sizes, etc.)
Is the location suitable for my daily commute?
Do I have access to all required utilities?
Do the surrounding businesses bring favourable traffic to the location?
When conducting community research, does my target market have access to this location? Is the location suitable for a substantial portion of my target market?
Do the leasing, renting, or buying terms fit my requirements?
How much will it cost, and how long will it take, to get my internet and phone up and running?
Are my signs and outdoor advertisements visible to traffic?
Is the labour force in the area suitable for my staff requirements? Are wage scales similar to or lower than other location options?
What is the local Chamber of Commerce activity like?
Does the location meet my accessibility requirements?
Is parking available and affordable for customers and staff?
Is public transportation available?
Is the location consistent with the image I’ve communicated through branding and marketing?
What lifestyle factors, schools, and community activities are present?
Am I close enough to suppliers and manufacturers?
Can deliveries be made to this location?
Are the costs of transporting goods and shipping to and from this location similar to or lower than other location options?
Are competitors located nearby?
If competitors are nearby, am I confident in my ability to compete?
Is the crime rate in the area tolerable for my business, and are security services available?
What times of the day and week will provide the most traffic at this location? Am I able to operate in the evening and is there adequate exterior lighting to attract evening customers?
What will my insurance cost at this type of location?
Later on, will this location be able to accommodate growth of my business?
How do rental costs and lease agreement terms compare to other location options? Break this down to cost per square foot and compare to your revenue per square foot.
How long is the lease and does this fit with my requirements?
Does the current lighting meet my needs? Are there window displays available? Are shelving units or wall displays provided or am I allowed to install them?

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The components of a great business location

best small business location

Several things go into the perfect small business location. We’ve identified seven of some of the most important things to keep in mind when analyzing your small business’ proposed location:

1) Accessibility

How easily can your customers drive to you, or get there by public transport? Your location must be easy to find — customers have only so much patience for getting lost. Include directions on your website, with a map.

In many cases, lack of parking will be a complete turn off for customers. Make sure you figure this out before you commit to a location.

Also, provide wheelchair access as well as child-friendly features if necessary.

Think about your employees, too. Is the location miles away from anywhere? If so, you may have trouble tempting prospective employees if you don’t have good transit access.

2) Competition

What businesses are nearby, and how directly do they compete with you? Often, being near a major competitor can be good for your business — as long as you’re confident in your abilities to compete. In fact, if a competitor has already set up shop in a particular place, then it’s usually a good sign that customers will come. However, you’ll need to work extra hard to attract and retain customer interest.

3) Business Environment

Is your business environment a busy downtown core? A popular shopping centre? A rural area? Consider the types of businesses nearby and the customers they may attract, volume of traffic they bring in, proximity to your location, etc. Also consider the potential for growth in the area. If businesses seem to always be closing down, it might be a great area for your location. Spend some time monitoring a prospective location’s business environment to help find out if you could succeed there.

4) Physical Layout

The layout of your location has to be conducive to a smooth working environment. You may have some equipment or machinery that has to fit inside the location, or inventory that you need to store there. How will customers and employees get around? Will the layout help or hinder them? Check out our tips for assessing the physical layout of your potential location.

5) Site Availability and Regulations

There are regulations to keep in mind with almost any small business location. The site must also be available to get in the way you have in mind — renting, leasing or buying. (More about that here.) Zoning regulations, municipal licences and taxes have to be considered too. Check with your city or town’s website or band office for more on local zoning bylaws, licences, and taxes.

6) Costs

Costs will depend on the location. Downtown rent is almost guaranteed to be higher than a similar-sized office further away. Sales royalties paid to the landlord, landscaping, water, power, fuel, security and storage fees are other costs to take into account. What about leasehold improvements – construction you’ll need to undertake to be ready for business? This construction is sometimes paid by the landlord (or owner) of the building, sometimes by you and sometimes shared.

7) Resources

What resources that you need to run your business? Research municipal services like police and fire protection, public transit and sewer and water supplies. Also consider your proximity to suppliers, raw materials and customers are. It’s a good idea to check out other resources you may need like postal service, telephone and internet service, banking, and security services.

How did you decide on your small business’ location? Let us know in the comments!

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How to find the best small business location

small-business-location Finding the best location for your small business can be tricky. There are so many factors to consider, such as parking, accessibility, nearby competition, the size of the location, and how well the location will work for your daily business life.

To help you organize your search and narrow it down to the best options, we’ve created two free guides: The Location Checklist and the Location Analysis Grid. You can use these two free PDF documents to help you track location considerations such as:

Does the location’s layout fit my requirements?
How much will it cost, and how long will it take, to get my internet and phone up and running?
What lifestyle factors, schools, and community activities are present?
What will my insurance cost at this type of location?
Later on, will this location be able to accommodate growth of my business?

And many more! Download our free Location Checklist and Location Analysis Grid for an organized, prioritized location search for your small business.

Have fun!

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