Three things a chain tenant checks in a retail unit

A buyer of retail space usually looks at price per foot, location and stated yield. The tenant the space is being bought for looks at something else entirely — and their list is shorter.

First: visibility

Is the sign visible from the flow — from the road, from the pavement, from the lobby? A unit of the same size in the same building is worth different amounts depending on whether it falls into the field of view of someone walking past.

This is checked on foot: walk the route the way a person buying coffee or medicine will walk it, and see at what point you notice the shopfront. If you did not notice it, neither will they.

Second: access

How simple it is to get in: an entrance from the street or through a shared lobby, parking nearby, whether you have to walk around the building, whether the entrance is open during the tenant's hours. For a chain operator that is not convenience but economics: every extra turn on the way cuts off part of the flow, and they calculate it.

Third: technical parameters

The most underrated item and most often the one a deal collapses on.

• Water supply and drainage. Without a water connection and a drain the unit is closed to a café, a bakery, a salon, a laundry, a clinic — that is, to most tenants who can pay.
• Gas. Determines whether a full kitchen is possible. A restaurant without gas is either an expensive electric alternative or a refusal.
• Allocated electrical capacity in kilowatts. A pharmacy chain, a minimarket with refrigeration, a coffee shop with several machines each have their own minimum. A unit that cannot supply it is eliminated at the first technical brief.

All three are verified from documents and by asking the management company before the transaction, not after.

How this affects the rent

If all three are clean, the unit lets at the top of its district's range. If even one falls short, one of two things happens: a strong chain tenant simply picks the neighbouring property, or they come and negotiate — and the rate settles below the modelled one.

The practical conclusion for a buyer is simple. The yield on a retail unit is determined not by what you paid for it but by who will agree to trade in it. That is what to check, not the stated percentage.