06 Jul Choosing a place for a supermarket
Despite the fact that in modern Moscow, it would seem, there should be just an excess of various grocery and hardware stores where you can find goods for every taste and budget, in reality there are not so many good stores. It is no coincidence that shopping malls are so popular, including such hypermarkets as AUCHAN, Leroy Merlin, Ikea, Mega, OBI, although getting to them without a car is in most cases quite problematic. But before, we somehow lived without these “shopping monsters” and completely managed to go to the store closest to the house. What happened and why the nearest stores ceased to satisfy all our needs?
As a rule, two main reasons can be distinguished: the first is the overpriced price of goods compared to the same Auchan, and the second is the lack of a choice sufficient for us. Of course, when you see whole huge rows intended for only one category of goods, the eye immediately rejoices and you want to choose the best of the best. There is not even close choice in a regular store. In addition, we are already accustomed to the Western system of supermarkets, when you can walk between the aisles for as long as you want, inspect and feel the goods that interest us, studying their shelf life and composition. Therefore, the once-familiar store counters and queues in a certain department seem to us more and more “wild”.
If you think that you can open your own supermarket, which will become a full-fledged substitute for visiting such large shopping centers and will fully correspond to their main competitive advantage, then you have every chance to change the existing situation. After all, your main trump card will be a convenient territorial location. Agree that many of us would prefer to go to a supermarket located in a neighboring house or across the road, if it has all the goods we need at an attractive price, than to specifically go to a shopping center located outside the Moscow Ring Road with crowds of people and insane queues at the cashier. To do this, it is important to include only three main points in the development of the concept of your supermarket: convenient territorial location, affordable prices for the entire range of goods while observing all quality standards, and ensuring choice. Let’s focus in more detail on the first point, which, according to most entrepreneurs, plays a key role.
So, how to choose the right room and place for your future supermarket. First of all, you should decide how you plan to look for it. If you think that this is easy enough to do by buying any printed publication that has a section for buying or renting commercial real estate, or by searching for suitable options on the Internet, then you are mistaken, because this process hides a fairly large number of pitfalls. Of course, you can fill your own bumps and gain valuable experience based on the mistakes you have made, but it is easier, more reliable and safer to immediately turn to professionals. In Moscow, there is now a large selection of real estate agencies that specialize specifically in commercial real estate, including premises for a shop or shopping center. Experienced realtors already know all the nuances and features of such transactions and will become your indispensable consultants, especially if this is your first business and you have never encountered a trading business before.
In any case, whether you are still going to search for premises yourself or decide to entrust this matter to professionals, you should familiarize yourself with the basic requirements that a high-quality store space must meet.
The first thing to start with is to decide on the format of your supermarket and the area that it needs. Completely different situations arise if you plan to open a store in a separate building, on the basement or first floor of a residential building and in a large shopping and entertainment center. You also need to have a clear idea of how many departments your future store will have, how many rows there will be, how many cash desks you plan to place, what specific categories of goods will be placed in the store, and what special equipment you will need to store them. A number of technical characteristics of the store will directly depend on this, including the height of the ceilings.
The first step is to determine the district of the city that interests you, from the point of view of business development. It is very important that the store is located in close proximity to residential buildings, public transport stops or metro stations. In addition, it is better to choose premises located in the first line of houses so that the store sign is clearly visible from afar. The territory surrounding your future store requires no less attention. After all, in the case of opening a large supermarket, you also need to take care of organizing convenient parking. You have a chance that your customers will be not only local residents from the nearest houses, but also residents of more distant corners of this area. When organizing parking, it is worth focusing on the ratio of 6-8 parking spaces per 100 square meters of the store.
Now directly about choosing the room itself. It is important that buyers feel comfortable in this room and are ready not only to buy those products that were indicated in their home list, but also allow themselves to walk and see something else. For this, the ventilation and air conditioning system should work very well in the room, the aisles between the racks should ensure the passage of customers with carts and leave a small gap for those who go without a cart. At the same time, the entire area, except for the aisles and the cash desk area, should be used for displaying goods so that customers do not get the impression of a paucity of choice. High ceilings, as well as large shop windows and light walls, have a positive effect on people’s feelings. When there is a lot of light and air in the room, it is comfortable and pleasant to be in it. Do not forget that in addition to the trading floor, you will also need warehouses for storing products and office space for staff. The state of electrical wiring, water supply, heating and sewerage should be treated with special attention and exactingness. As for the choice between turnkey and refurbishment premises, it is up to you. It’s hard to give general advice here. It all depends on how the design of the premises matches the style and concept of your future supermarket. It is often easier to buy or rent a premise without repair than to redo a repair already done by someone.
Buying a room or renting it is the age-old question of all start-up entrepreneurs. Most prefer not to take risks initially and not immediately invest such large investments in the acquisition of commercial real estate, so they choose a simpler rental option. But, if you are confident in growing your business, then it is definitely worth considering buying. After all, investing in real estate is the most reliable investment of money. Now in the commercial real estate market you can find both ready-made premises for a store or a shopping complex, as well as those premises that require special improvement. Of course, it’s easier to buy a ready-made version, but the problem is that you can’t always find the only right one that you need among ready-made solutions.
Renting or buying commercial real estate requires verification of all property documents, as well as legal due diligence of the purity of the transaction. It is unlikely that you will be able to carry out such a check on your own. Therefore, we recommend that you contact experienced lawyers if you are still looking for premises on your own. In the event that you initially applied to a real estate agency, qualified realtors and lawyers of the agency will take care of all issues related to documents. You will only be required to carefully read the lease or sale agreement, depending on the type of transaction you choose.
Having decided to open your own supermarket, do not rush to choose the premises. Real estate agency Moscow Max recommends spending more time on this stage, but then not regretting your choice.