Location????

[Sign_Boy]

If you were to choose a location what would you look for?

Obviously rent would be an issue - keeping that out of the equation - would you want bay doors to pull vehicles in?
Would it be all about high visibility - walk-ins - your showroom - size and so on...

What would you put as priority number 1?

Let me know your thoughts.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[DTFuqua]

My location now suks. I live on a dead end street with minimal traffic and can't get away from home due to family health problems. Advertising localy is terrible as the main news paper has run the thrifty nickel out of business and then rasied their rates to where you ad better work or you can't afford to renew it. They even went so far as to charge for auto sales ads acording to the price of the vehicle. And to top everything else off, all the neighborhood bulliten boards have been removed. Only business I could get any info from stated they were informed of liability issues (would not say by whom) and advised to take them down. I own a share of a house in Fl that has a wide right of way for lots of parking and is 150 feet from a major 4 lane through fair. I will be moving there soon mostly to get better care for my wife (mississippi suks)and the location will allow me to work at home to care3 for her and maybe make a little more money than absoluty needed to pay utilities. There is a saying in almost all businesses I keep thinking about,"LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION."

 

[Graphics.Atl]

I think priority number one is a functional space for what you are looking to do, bay doors for wraps/large signs, showroom if you depend on walk-ins, etc. I think a close second for a retail store is a visible open store front, easily accessible entry/parking area.

 

[Replicator]

Large interior garage space with vehicle bays #1

I don't have that now and it's tough doing everything outside !

 

[Pat Whatley]

Depends on what you want to do. Vehicle graphics really require an interior space. Sandblasting, routing, painting etc. require a space that will let you do that.

We do strictly vinyl work in-house and subcontract all of our printing. To me, location to the central business district in downtown is key. Our location is just outside downtown, on the main road, with plenty of parking. Works out great for us by making it easy for clients to get here, get in and get out.

 

[ProWraps™]

i obviously am a wrap company. and this is what i looked for in our new space (because in our old space we didnt have it):

60' vehicle bay
250' of roll in space
14' roll up door
space, allowance, and permit to build out office and clean printing room


again, those are vehicle wrap requirements. if you are in that business, you will NEED THEM. good luck to you. the rest is obvious (good neighborhood, rent, etc.). remember you are in a buyers market. i dont care where the location is. you need to ask about allowances for TI's. the longer the lease you sign, the more you will get. do your homework, and dont be afraid to put the landlord to the test. we are VERY lucky that our new landlord is onsite and the building is his family trust. he is amazing. a breath of fresh air compared to the other commercial spaces i have had. i will say this again: you are in a BUYERS MARKET. landlords are hungry. read the lease CAREFULLY. they will slip in things like incremental rent increases etc. stick to your guns, be educated and dilligent, and you will do well.

 

[southpawP8NTR]

My location is great. I have parking, garage bay, storefront and retail space where I have our high school aparrel. I even have rental income from an apartment. I'm on busy street that is also a state hwy, the last time I heard the state numbers there was an average of 2,200 vehicles per day drive by. When I bought the place I was in a bidding war at first but I still got it for around 20 grand less than the appraisal.

 

[Westcoast Sign Guy]

Spit it out man! What's with all the questions in separate threads? What is it you're trying to get at? You looking to get into a different aspect of the industry? Wondering what to stay away from?

 

[Sign_Boy]

Spit it out man! What's with all the questions in separate threads? What is it you're trying to get at? You looking to get into a different aspect of the industry? Wondering what to stay away from?

Just doing a little research.
I'm trying to figure a few things out.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

if the focus my business was going to be business to business sales (focusing on smaller local b 2 b sales specifically) i would look for shop space that was visible or across the street from the post office

but that is just an off the cuff thought..i would look at many things. traffic count on the streets i was interested in being located on (unless you do not want walk in traffic...i try to avoid walk in business).

shop specs. i would definitely want the ability to drive a vehicle in doors if possible (even if it was just my own). myself i am more concerned with shop space than office space. i would want good lighting. as well as some windows or doors that could be opened in nicer months or it just feels like a dark cave...to me.

i also like having the ability to have dedicated areas of my work space.. one for clean work (vinyl, digital print) and an area for wood work and other 'dirty work' that keeps me from having to do serious cleaning when you need dust at a minimum.

 

[Mikeifg]

I've got 2 120' pull thru bays. and my shop space is small. I'm looking for something with a whole lot of shop shop space and 1/2 the bay space I have now. Because heating in the winter sucks.

Mike

 

[THATgirl]

Priority number one: Sunshine. Seattle winters don't allow for much outdoor painting.
Number two: Big windows and space for vehicles to be pulled in with plenty of room on both sides.

 

[Jillbeans]

I live on a 4-lane highway in a regular house with a garage.
I have an office/showroom in the back of the house.
I get a lot of walk-in business.
I myself would never go to a business which was in someone's house tho.
I won't even stop at yard sales.
My dream was always to have an old building which was a storefront, like an old drug store or grocery store, with an apartment up top to live in.
Matt Vipond's shop, to me, is the ideal kind of location!
Love....Jill

 

[DOGraphics]

Hawaii

I am jealous of iSign
​

;.}

 

[THATgirl]

yes Maui is great. But then you get island fever! (maybe that's why doug goes 'off' on us at times >grin<)
:O)

 

[petepaz]

size of location, do you have enough room to work
do you have room to grow
bay doors for trucks good (our new location is great, big enough, blah, blah but the place has 4 bay doors one of which has a ramp to drive in but that one is only 10 ft high so no box trucks going in there)
also do you have enough power to run all your equipment and any new equipment you might get (don't want to be blowing circuits all day)
are you close to the major road ways
big window for a show case would be nice

 

[THATgirl]

I get a lot of walk-in business.
I myself would never go to a business which was in someone's house tho.
I won't even stop at yard sales.
Love....Jill

I am curious why you would allow people into your house then? I don't let walk-in customers into my shop. I deliver all signs and go to people's place of business when I don't know them. Do you think it is wise to allow strangers from off the street into your home when you say that you don't stop at yard sales? I am not picking on you jill, I am just curious. With how strange some people can be these days, you have to be careful.

 

[Jillbeans]

They never come into my house, they enter my office/showroom which is a converted porch. There is a door between it and my house.
Believe me, I do not like strangers coming here but 99% of them are OK.
And my area is small enough that almost all of my customers are referred to me by other customers.

 

[THATgirl]

That's good to hear jill. I thought you said you got a lot of walk ins and I often hear you talk about all the skuzzballs in your neighborhood. You gotta be careful these days.

 

[GP]

My shop is about 12' x 12', has wall to wall carpeting and accommodates a full size bed. I have the luxury of a walkin-in linen closet where I can sometimes store my saw horses and overflow vinyl scraps.

I also have a second space that has hard word floors and nice lighting. We commonly refer to this as the "dining room." We sometimes have large meetings in there for thanksgiving. Come to find out, in the cooler months, it can accommodate a 3 x 10' sign. In a perfect world, it would not have silk drapes because, I can sometimes hit them with the roller.

God, I need a space. Err, I mean, God I need to hit my numbers so I can get a space!

GP

 

[Edserv]

Simple equation: Traffic + Conversion = Sales (and hopefully profit)
So, in my humble opinion, it comes down to 1) TRAFFIC and 2) CONVERSION
We have worked out of a home studio for 2.5 years. We derive ALL of our TRAFFIC from a) internet and b) direct sales/marketing Our CONVERSION comes from our sales people's knowledge of sales and our website's conversion ratio. We don't rely on a brick and mortar location for traffic (who needs the overhead?) and we don't rely on "experts" to convert our sales leads (our sales people (only a couple) people follow a script and we follow a system for converting. This works for us. I am incredibly grateful that we don't have a $2,000, $3,000 or $5,000 a month overhead to pay for a location that may or may not give us traffic (and a waste of time dealing with people coming in just to quiz-bowl us!)
Good luck. Remember: TRAFFIC + CONVERSION = SALES (and hopefully profit!)

 

[Gino]

Simple equation: Traffic + Conversion = Sales (and hopefully profit)
So, in my humble opinion, it comes down to 1) TRAFFIC and 2) CONVERSION
We have worked out of a home studio for 2.5 years. We derive ALL of our TRAFFIC from a) internet and b) direct sales/marketing Our CONVERSION comes from our sales people's knowledge of sales and our website's conversion ratio. We don't rely on a brick and mortar location for traffic (who needs the overhead?) and we don't rely on "experts" to convert our sales leads (our sales people (only a couple) people follow a script and we follow a system for converting. This works for us. I am incredibly grateful that we don't have a $2,000, $3,000 or $5,000 a month overhead to pay for a location that may or may not give us traffic (and a waste of time dealing with people coming in just to quiz-bowl us!)
Good luck. Remember: TRAFFIC + CONVERSION = SALES (and hopefully profit!)

The word 'hopefully' is your weakest link. Good-Bye
​