Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Small Shopping Centers Generally Have Four Types of Retail Companies

By Connor Sullivan

Whether there are five shops or ten that take up space in a small shopping center, most often the type of retail being offered is the same in each place. Typically, a consumer will find a business that will feature fresh flowers and flower delivery to homes and businesses. In addition to these businesses, there are four other companies who are located in most small shopping centers all over the US. These four retail outlets are Subway, Starbucks, a nail salon and Gamestop.

Subway is a national chain restaurant featuring made to order sub sandwiches, soups, snacks and drinks. There are over 30,000 locations all over the place. This company does a fantastic job at marketing and couponing in all the neighborhoods in where they are situated. They pride themselves on being fresh, fast and a healthy alternative to the typical fast food options. Their locations are kept small and promote to go orders. The company was founded in 1965 and franchises are still increasing today.

If there seems like there is a Starbucks on every corner, it is probably because there are over 16,000 locations all around the world. This chain that serves coffee is the largest of its kind in the entire world. It serves specialty coffee, tea and alternative hot beverage drinks to people every day of the week. It also sells a variety of breakfast goods, snacks and bars of dessert. Starbucks has even been successful in marketing their own choice of music that stays in their brand. Small shopping centers typically are situated in prime traffic areas which is extremely helpful to the success of Starbucks locations.

These small shopping centers also house most of the walk-in nail salons throughout the country. These salons do not typically require an appointment, have lower service costs and provide wonderful service to their customers. The customer turnover in these salons is high due the sheer nature of who they target. Their typical consumer is a female who is out running errands, makes money and did not plan ahead by making an appointment. This type of nail salon can accommodate this consumer with great customer service and average to low pricing. The quick pace, low cost and great service make this type of company ideal for small shopping centers in every city.

Lastly, Gamestop is a growing retail outlet that buys and sells video games, gaming systems and gaming accessories. It was founded in 1984 as a company called Babbages and in 1994 turned into what consumers know as Gamestop. It was with the financial backing of the then CEO of Barnes and Noble that this company really took off and prospered. Today there are over 6,200 locations throughout the world. Their target consumer is anyone who is interested in and plays video games. Because of their broad appeal this business concept it continues to grow every day. They need little space and prefer to have controlled rent in highly visible areas. Small shopping centers provide all of this and allow Gamestop to keep being successful.

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