How do you approach curating your tenant mix?

Photo: Grow: A Plant Shop
10/10

8. We collaborate on marketing.

From jointly announcing a lease signing, through grand opening, and beyond!

Photo: Hex Coffee
9/10

7. We insist our tenants install great signage.

We push (and push and push) the tenant to go bigger, to be more creative, to illuminate the sign - because by then they are short on funding and underestimate the importance of the sign.

Photo: Hardy Boys Records
8/10

6. All of our leases include percentage rent.

This is the best way to align the landlord and tenant.

We regularly walk from deals over this issue.

Photo: Halal Street Foods
7/10

5. We sign short-duration leases

A failing small business leaves even if they have a long lease.

We always renew a short-term lease with a great tenant, & we stay in control of the space if tenants turn out not to be so great for the overall tenant mix.

Photo: Dupp & Swat
6/10

4. We build small retail spaces and fit them out for flexibility.

This minimizes credit risk for any particular tenant.

Photo: Babe and Butcher
5/10

3. We accept that the best local retailers probably have no credit.

We can do this because the overall credit profile of our project is dominated by large office tenants. (We still do background and credit checks to look for bad actors.)

Photo: Black Moth Bars
4/10

2. We prefer tenants with a narrow niche.

Niche stores attract loyal customers from all across the market, & once they visit they will cross-shop if u have the right tenant mix.

Narrow niche businesses also minimize competition among tenants in the future.

Photo: Fitteds
3/10

1. We look for the owner-operators of the best local retail and F&B startups.

We visit food truck gatherings and pop-up markets. We network like crazy. And we’re also fortunate that we are now getting a lot of inbound interest.

Photo: Seemingly Overzealous
2/10

• Events - embroidery workshops (custom with a certain $ spent or with a certain purchase), teaching workshops (show the public how to embroider).

What other suggestions should we be making?
12/12

• Make sure to analyze your ads to make adjustments in wording, photos, videos to improve results – run A/B tests of alternate posts to check your interpretation,.
• Collaborate with larger brands to bring awareness to your store within the local market.
11/12

• Some tenants started as online businesses – ad targeting is different for a physical store. Use your ads to target niche audiences in your community – for example, Charlotteans who are specifically interested in streetwear
10/12

• Collaborate with neighboring tenants to organize Instagram giveaways every quarter or a big one once a year. To enter the giveaway, ask their audience to follow all the participating accounts, share the giveaway post to their story, and tag someone in the comments.
9/12

• Allocate some budget to a part-time social media mgr to engage, promote, & share content daily - college interns are great
• Hire a firm to develop a tailored Marketing Strategy/SEO/Social Media Promo/Photo/Videos – one of our tenants, @LoydVisuals, does this very well.
8/12