What to look for in new store location?

We once worked with a dealer that had tremendous potential. They were originally a patio furniture retail store and would sometimes have people patiently waiting for over two hours to speak to a sales representative for their furniture. It must be a safe bet if their customers are willing to wait 2 hours to do business with them! BUT even though they had all of that traffic in their stores for patio furniture, almost none of that traffic translated into spa sales. Why?

You must be able to generate spa traffic. Natural spa traffic is hard to find. Unless you are lucky enough to have stumbled across the perfect store location that will grant you every spa customer you need without a lick of effort, then you will have to use your advertising and your sales teams’ efforts to generate spa sales.
Commissioned sales people. Your salespeople do not need to be market specific. If you already have some great patio furniture salespeople then utilized them for spas as well! However, making sure that they are commissioned means they are going to be motivated to sell the high-ticket items, like spas. Hourly salespeople would usually rather make an easier, less time consuming low-ticket sale than a higher-margin but more time consuming sale.
Good location. As with any business, the key to success is a good location. This means you have:
- - Natural traffic – auto or pedestrian. Remember, you or your commissioned salespeople must be able to translate this traffic into spa traffic!
  - Event friendly – If you want a successful spa business then you need to be willing to hold special sales events that generate buzz. A good location lends itself to special events out front
  - Easy to access from the road – Don’t make your customers have to play Frogger to get into your parking lot. Make it easily accessible and you’ll have a less stinted flow of customers.
  - Complementing Neighbors – A good location is near stores that complement your store and generate lots of traffic.
Loading dock and floor space. If you have a tiny coffee-shop sized store then chances are you aren’t going to the loading dock or floor space necessary to display spas. Make sure you showroom will be able to accommodate a sufficient display so your customers feel like they’re getting the best selection of quality spas at your location alone — if they end up needing to go to other spa stores to get their fill of variety, then a better-stocked showroom is probably going to get the sale over you.