Retail Store Design To Make Your Commercial Property For Rent Stand Out

When you own retail property, leasing them out to other businesses is a common way to enjoy a long term return on your investment. Different buildings are suited to different businesses but shops are always in demand, whether in the middle of a big city or in a small village. One of the biggest challenges can be convincing potential businesses to choose your retail property for rent.

You should look for any edge over the other options available, and that means highlighting some of the features that could bring success to anyone who operates from that retail property. This could include size or accessibility, as well as what’s nearby, or any number of factors. You should also think about retail store design so you can really emphasise the property’s best features. Find out more about what goes into choosing a new retail property.

What Is Retail Store Design?

With a retail property, the goal is to bring customers inside and persuade them to purchase the products available in the shop. With so much choice, both physically and digitally, visiting a store becomes an experience and retail store design can have a big impact on what a customer does.

Retail store design covers a range of factors, such as colour schemes, branding, product placement, layouts, customer journeys, functional use of space, and much more. While you don’t need to be an expert on it, knowing what a retail property has to offer prospective buyers or tenants could be helpful.

Why Should You Care About Retail Store Design?

If you have a retail property for sale, or are thinking of leasing it out to another business, it’s unlikely that your goal is to make money from selling products in a retail property yourself. You might wonder why you should care about retail store design, since your business likely makes money in other ways.

However, making money from a retail property relies on it being used, and it’s worth investing in making your retail property for rent or sale stand out. Knowing what these businesses are looking for, and how your property can deliver that, is key. This is where knowledge about retail store design can help.

How To Design A Retail Store

With a retail property for sale or rent, you’ll want to make sure everyone who views it can see their business operating from that location. Making changes to try and accommodate everyone won’t work, but you can highlight what potential buyers or leaseholders are looking for.

This is where retail store design becomes so important. While it’s not a retail property you will be using, ensuring it doesn’t sit empty is a primary concern. Thinking about the features or ways the space can be used will help you better pitch the property to others. Retail store design doesn’t just cover colours and decor, but practical uses of the space, too.

Think About Layout

Every retail property is different, and so are the businesses that use them. With different products that people are interested in, using the space effectively is going to determine how successful a retail business is. This means it’s hard to pick a type of store or product that you want to emphasise. Instead, think about the layout and how this can be used by as many retailers as possible.

This is more important with a retail property for rent that is an odd or unusual shape. A corner or section that isn’t as easily seen from the entrance can be missed, so utilising the layout to get customers here is essential. This can be in the form of shelving racks or rails that guide customers in a certain path, which is a core part of retail store design.

Make Storage Space Clear

The shop floor is only one part of a retail property. It is the most important for customers, and is where the transactions that generate revenue take place, but there needs to be enough room to store products that can replace those that have been sold – and quickly in stores where demand is high.

When choosing a retail property for rent, business owners need to know they have access to their stock at all times, so storage space should be easy to identify. Loading bays and good access can also make deliveries easier to handle, and if it’s easy to see how the business can operate in the retail property, demand for it will be higher.

Emphasise Natural Light

A key part of retail store design is creating a welcoming and enjoyable atmosphere – and this can be helped with natural light. Artificial lighting can be too bright or harsh on the eyes at times, and a store with low levels of lighting can be gloomy and moody, which isn’t going to help people be in the mood to spend their hard-earned cash.

Large windows can bring natural light in, and bright colours can help the retail property seem more spacious and inviting. Mirrors or metallic finishes can reflect some of the light around the store. When artificial light is needed, look for low energy bulbs that are closer to natural light levels to make the transition smoother.

Should You Focus On The Right Hand Side?

Have you ever wondered why a lot of stores have you enter on the right hand side – or direct customers that way around a retail property? With a lot of people being right handed, it can make them favour that side. Businesses can use layout and product placement to dictate where a customer goes.

That said, making the customer journey easier and feel more natural isn’t something to ignore. Putting the products people want close by, or offering promotions early can be a positive start to any visit to a retail property.

Be Flexible With A Business’s Needs

Every business owner will want to use the retail property they choose differently, and this can involve some changes to the look, design or even internal space. From your point of view, big changes to the building might help the current leaseholder, but could be something that puts off a future business from choosing your location.

There is a balance to be found here, and showing your willingness to accommodate changes for retail store design can make your retail property a more attractive choice for businesses interested in the space. There are conditions that can be added to make sure any changes are reversed if needed, but meeting the needs of the market where possible will help you stand out.

Find The People Looking For Retail Property For Rent

With a retail property for rent, one of the first things to do is make sure people can find it, but more importantly, you want to make sure the right people see it. This might be businesses in the local area, or looking to move into that community. While a larger or national platform might help, the connections a local team has built can prove to be much more effective.

This is where the team at Williams Sillitoe can really help with your retail property. We know what each area of South Manchester and Cheshire is looking for, and the people looking in those areas, so we can help find the right people for your retail property for rent. By keeping retail store design in your mind, and how it can help get the right business using your property, there are plenty of opportunities for you. Contact us now to find out more.