Most retail founders pick their first location or two on gut feel, and for the first shop or two, that's usually fine. Past a certain size, though, one wrong lease sits on your P&L for years, quietly eating margin nobody's tracking day to day. This is the exact scoring system I built after opening eight stores, most contributing over £100k profit each, so the next decision gets made on paper, not adrenaline.
It's not a theory document. It's the actual checklist I run through myself, covering the desk research, the footfall quality, the lease terms, and the conversations with other shopkeepers that most people skip, all scored so two locations can be compared properly instead of argued about on instinct.
Footfall & foot traffic quality
Not just how many people pass, but whether they're the kind of passer-by who actually converts.
Catchment & competition
What's already pulling your customer to the area, and what's competing for the same spend.
Lease terms & costs
Rent, rates, and staff costs weighed against the break-even footfall you'd actually need.
The unit itself
Window frontage, path width, and signage, scored on how they actually affect passing trade.
Local intelligence
What to ask the shopkeepers already on the street, and why they'll tell you more than any report.
Footfall & Profit Calculator
The free calculator included as a ready-to-use spreadsheet, pre-filled with working assumptions.
Questions
Who's this for?
Retail, hospitality, or any bricks-and-mortar founder about to consider signing a lease, or one who's already signed and wants a second opinion on whether it was the right call.
What format is it?
An instant PDF download, plus the Footfall & Profit Calculator as a spreadsheet you can adapt to your own numbers.
I already have a location in mind. Is it too late to use this?
No. It works just as well as a gut check on a place you're currently negotiating as it does earlier in a search.
How is this different from the free footfall calculator?
The calculator covers one part of the picture: footfall and break-even numbers. This checklist covers all 33 points, including lease terms, competition, and catchment, that the calculator on its own doesn't touch.