Taking the plunge to launch your retail shop is a massive leap of faith. It’s the most expensive, most consequential, and most emotional investment you’ll ever make.
We get it. There’s a billion questions in your mind: “Am I choosing the right area? Will my customers find me here? Can I afford it? Did I make the right call?”
But it’s okay to have questions because that choice can make or break your business.
That’s why we decided to put together this ultimate step-by-step guide. In this article, we’ll take you from zero to one, from confusion to clarity on what location to choose for your retail shop. We’ll provide actionable insights and tactics that we’ve used to help hundreds of brands succeed, from Fortune 500 companies to local startups.
Think of it as a strategic playbook so you can unlock your business’s true potential, backed by first-hand industry experience and data-driven insights.
Before you begin your hunt for that retail space, you need to know one thing before anything else—Who are you trying to reach? The location will be “right” only if your target customer is already there.
In today’s Kolkata, the customer base is not a single entity. In fact, the city is a mosaic of hyperlocal markets, each with its distinct characteristics.
The high-end tech-savvy millennial who shops in Salt Lake Sector V after a day of earning lakhs as a software engineer is starkly different from the rich children and their parents who visit Acropolis Mall in South Kolkata.
It’s only by decoding this hyperlocal market and your target audience that you can make sense of your location choices. Do you want quick stops from office goers for lunchtime purchases? Or are you looking for a destination-style store that families frequent on weekends?
Once you identify your target audience, you can rule out a majority of the noise and get laser-focused on areas and buildings that are the most convenient for your customers.
Go beyond assumptions. Get systematic. Before you look at a single listing, invest some time to write down a detailed customer persona. Consider the following:
Demographics: Who are they? What’s their age, income, occupation, etc. ?
Psychographics: What drives them? Is it convenience, luxury, or, as sustainability becomes more critical, is being in a LEED Platinum-certified building like Infinity Benchmark essential?
Behavior: Where do they shop right now? What’s their commute like? What does a typical weekday and weekend look like?
Create a document with this information because this persona will help you make better location decisions every time, based on data, not just intuition.
Great locations are not isolated; they are part of a larger, vibrant ecosystem. The synergy between you and your neighbors is essential.
A prime location like Godrej Waterside in Sector V is a classic example of location synergy. You don’t just get a space in a premium building; you get access to a pre-vetted high-quality customer stream.
Why? Because this location is the chosen office destination of several big corporates. As an employee, you walk into the Godrej Waterside office every day in Sector V in Kolkata. You receive your paycheck, get your professional validation, but your wallet is pretty much empty.
A metro-minute’s walk from your workplace is this prime location, and you know you have options there.
Infinity Benchmark in the shopping-centric locality of Kolkata Salt Lake ensures a steady flow of shoppers who need the kind of experience a mall offers.
Infinity Benchmark’s strategic location means you don’t just inherit the building. You are part of a bustling, premium ecosystem that will work with you to attract more eyeballs to your retail shop.
Visit your shortlisted locations at different times (for example, during a weekday lunch hour and a Saturday afternoon) and observe:
Neighboring Tenants: Are the adjacent stores similar in nature to your brand? A premium bookstore is in great synergy next to a specialty coffee shop, for example.
Footfall Quality: Are the people who walk by your store also your target customers?
Accessibility: Is parking easy to find? Is it close to a Metro station like the Salt Lake Sector V station? Is the entrance easy to find and welcoming?
Get boots on the ground because this intel will reveal more insights than any leasing brochure ever will.
Your brand is the most important and the most tangible asset you have. The building you select communicates a message before a customer sets foot in your shop.
Selecting an address in a landmark property with recognized architecture is a powerful marketing tool. An Infinity Benchmark address, being architecturally significant and in a LEED Platinum-certified green building, gives you a stamp of success and quality by association.
It builds instant credibility and trust, creating a halo effect that says, “This brand is professional and here to stay.” The right retail shop, therefore, is not just a place of transaction; it is part of the brand story.
Stand outside a potential property and ask yourself these questions:
Aesthetics: Does the building look and feel like the kind of quality I want to be associated with for my products/services?
Presence: Is it an address that I would be proud to put on my website, business cards, and social media?
Tenant Mix: Are the other brands and stores in this building similar to my brand’s positioning? Will my brand get an instant leg-up by just being here?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then this may not be the right long-term choice, regardless of how attractive the terms might seem.
A lease is a relationship, and you need to partner with the right person in the landlord and the property manager. The best in the business, like Infinity Group Retail, is more than just a landlord.
The landlord should never stop caring about your business after you sign the lease. A truly strategic partner is your co-pilot. He (Infinity Group Retail, in this case) provides proactive property management, high-quality security, and, in managed environments such as malls, collaborative marketing initiatives and events that drive traffic for all tenants.
This mindset ensures that the property remains a premium destination for years to come, and your business and investment are safe and secure.
Before you sign a lease, treat it like an interview. It is a partnership you are entering. Ask:
What are the future development plans for the property and the area?
What level of marketing and promotional support do you offer tenants?
How do you manage tenant feedback and property maintenance requests?
The answers will tell you the depth of their commitment and help you select a partner who will be your champion for years to come.
Choosing the right location for your retail shop is, without a doubt, one of the most challenging steps in building your brand. But it doesn’t have to be a solitary or directionless journey. By following a structured, methodical approach—decoding your customer, leveraging synergy, aligning your brand, and partnering strategically—you can move forward with confidence.
Your brand has incredible potential, and your vision deserves a home that will help you unlock it. The right location isn’t just a place to do business; it’s the key that unlocks everything you’ve worked so hard to build. We’re here to help you find that key.
While cost and size are important, the most critical factor is always your target customer. A good location is one that provides your target customer the most convenient and logical access.
A good analysis is a combination of techniques. Manual traffic counts on location during peak and off-peak times, an analysis of traffic pulled by anchor stores and neighboring businesses, and a request for data to the property manager are all good sources for traffic data as most property managers have professional traffic count reports.
Parking is directly related to customer convenience and accessibility. If you are a destination store that people come to on purpose, then ample and easy parking is a must-have. If you are in a high-density urban space with lots of pedestrian traffic, then parking may be a lesser requirement, but it will always be a consideration.
A co-tenancy clause is a provision in a lease that allows the tenant to pay lower rent or break the lease in the event that a major anchor store in that shopping center closes or moves out.
Infinity Retail is where commerce comes to grow in Kolkata’s Salt Lake Sector V. Our vision to be more than just a landlord has made us pioneers in creating one-of-a-kind “consumer magnets”—distinctive, multi-use platforms that drive and support business success. Infinity Retail’s Grade- A portfolio of fully sustainable and fully compliant assets like Infinity Benchmark and Godrej Waterside was created with a special focus on F&B, premium showrooms, and service businesses. Leveraging state-of-the-art infrastructure and a ready captive audience of over 2.5 lakh working professionals, we offer unmatched opportunities for brands to stay ahead of the curve and perform beyond expectations in India’s IT capital, the East.
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