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How to compare business locations

The cheapest site is rarely the best one. Weight the factors that actually drive your revenue.

Location decisions are frequently made on rent and instinct. Scoring sites against weighted criteria makes the trade-offs visible.

Step-by-step

List the sites.
Choose the criteria that matter for your business.
Weight them before scoring.
Score and compare.

The criteria depend entirely on the business

For retail, footfall and visibility dominate and a cheaper site off the main street can be worthless. For a workshop, access, parking and ceiling height matter and footfall is irrelevant. For an office, the labour market and commute usually outrank everything.

Copying someone else's criteria is how businesses end up paying a retail premium for premises no customer will ever visit.

Factors worth considering

Total cost, not rent — see the lease guide.
Customer access — footfall, parking, transport.
Staff access, which affects who will work for you.
Suppliers and deliveries, including whether a lorry can actually reach it.
Room to grow, or the cost of moving again.
Competitors nearby, which can be good or bad depending on the trade.
Planning permissions for your intended use.

Visit at the times that matter

A site viewed on a Tuesday morning tells you little about Saturday afternoon. Visit at your busiest expected trading time, and at the quietest. Watch actual footfall rather than accepting a figure from the agent.

Confirm the permitted use before committing. Discovering that your intended activity requires a change of use, which may not be granted, is an expensive way to learn about planning.

Frequently asked questions

Should I choose the cheapest site?

Only if cost genuinely outweighs everything else. For customer-facing businesses a cheap site in the wrong place can cost far more in lost trade than it saves in rent.

How do I assess footfall?

Visit and count, at your intended trading times including the busiest and quietest. Figures supplied by an agent are best treated as a starting point.

What is the most overlooked factor?

Permitted use. Confirm that the site is approved for what you intend to do there before committing to anything.

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