Choosing a Location -
a "Pictorial Tour"

The following section should serve as a "guide" for locating that "perfect" location!

Rule of business: A good location, along with proper business training, is part of the formula for running a successful studio.
A bad location will bankrupt you!!!
The days of locations in "cheap" strip malls are over.
Now more than ever: location, location, location.
The better your location, the less you are dependent upon Yellow Pages. The days of living "exclusively" off the YP's are over. Most areas now have two competing YP books. The Yellow Page rates keeping going up with declining results.

Over the past 30 years the most successful studio owners got their training in successful studios or were managers of SUCCESSFUL studios! The picture below holds to this tradition of "success'!

To be successful in running a commercial studio you must have an endless supply of new students.

To do this you must have enough people with high disposable incomes to buy your product (martial arts) today and in the future.

Criteria: 100,000 population within a 5 mile radius of your studio.
    Follows 1/3-1/3-1/3 rule:
        30,000 within one mile
        30,000 next 1-3 miles
        30,000 with 3-5 miles
        Only 5%-10% will live outside of your five mile draw!
CRITICAL: It's more important to have as much population as possible in the first one mile radius than five miles away!

FAMILY INCOME ABOVE $30,000 PER YEAR!

AFFORDABLE FAMILY HOUSING: Ratio of average house cost divided by annual family income. Any ratio above 5:1 is a cause for concern.

The area I will be showing you:

                        Population within a 5 mile radius of studio: 98,450 - Great!
                Even Better 58,000 in the first mile! Excellent!
                        Household income: $45,495 - Excellent!
                 Average home price $150,000 - Excellent ++! This is only a (3½ to 1)

COMPETITION - Quantity and quality scale, 1-10! 10 being strong competition: (3)

Rent: Per sq. ft. Annual: $10 -- (Excellent)
Total sq. ft. 2,000++ all usable!
Location on a scale of 1-10. 10 being the highest (8½)

Raley's shopping centers in California are "perfect" locations for Karate Studios. The rents are usually right for what you need.

These pictures were taken at about 9:00 am on a rainy Saturday morning. Notice now many cars are in the parking lot already/

Raley's lays out their shopping centers in the form of a modified "U". Notice this part of the "U" forms an "L" with a major road passing directly in front of all the other businesses. A good location like this - with "heavy walk-by" - can account for as much as 50% of all your new sign-ups!

RALEY'S is the "Anchor" store - forming the Hub that feeds customers to all the other businesses. Also surrounding Tracy's (red arrow) are four restaurants. And the studio is located only about 150' from the main entrance to Raley's" (easy walking distance).

By mid-day the parking lot is usually filled with "hundreds" of cars and shoppers with money. The shoppers are mainly families - exactly what we want.

The other part of the "U" is a small "strip" not connected to the Main Structure. They also have retail space on the back and side - which you do not want!

Raley's main shopping complex is to the left. This small strip is anchored by a Baskin Robins. Over the past two years I have watched many businesses come and go in this small strip. (Notice how few cars are in this part of the parking lot.) The red arrow also points to one of the entrances. This small strip will be missed by everyone using this major entrance.

In this shopping center - are two entrances and three exits. The center is at the intersection of two heavily traveled roads. All cars entering or leaving the shopping center will be able to see almost all the other businesses.

Raley's develops what we call "Second Tier" locations (lower rent) in a 1st class neighborhood. Raley's tries to keep out of the "high rent" wars. They do not open shopping centers which cater to "high end" stores such as Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Sak's 5th Ave., etc.

Recently Consumers Report did a survey of the top "Supermarkets" in the U.S. They found the reason most shoppers choose one store over another was "CONVENIENCE" first - price second!

Tracy's location

In addition to the anchor - RALEY'S - there is heavy car and foot traffic created by additional retail businesses. The two buildings directly to the right are restaurants - to the left in this same section are two restaurants plus a Chinese restaurant on the corner.

Close up of studio 2000+ sq. ft (All usable)

Inside the studio is all usable space!

This is the view looking straight out the studio door. 9:00 am
Look at all the cars!

In front of the studio -- looking to the left is the Main Road leading directly to and from Raley's

This shopping center is ideally located. All the businesses serve the local neighborhood.

Raley's brings them in - all the small retail businesses benefit!

Many customers come to a restaurant or other business and shop at Raley's while they are there.
This is a classic "win - win" situation for everyone.

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