Have you ever wondered just how all the retailers who have a shop at your local shopping centre, sorted out who’d go where? If you imagined that they didn’t really care - think again.

The adage in real estate; location, location is just as relevant in the shopping centre placement game.

Firstly some useful terms to clarify the language used:

Anchor tenant - A major retailer such as a supermarket or discount department store who ‘anchors’ all or part of the centre. Usually found at either end. Satellite - A retail area physically separated from the main building, but sharing the car park etc. Handy for ‘utility’ type tenants such as car servicing. Traffic - The general term used for shopper ‘flow’ as identified by devices such as clickers.

If you examine a selection of your local shopping centers, you will find a pattern emerging. There will be at least one anchor tenant. A large retailer, such as a supermarket, which will be placed usually at either end. This anchor has the job of attracting the bulk of traffic to the centre, and is essential for success. There will usually be a satellite set up on an edge of the car park to house operations unsuited to any other placement. Businesses such as auto mechanics or building supply warehouses. Normally these days, banks will be situated inside for security reasons, but may well have an ATM ’standing guard’ on an external wall.

But what about the positioning of the retail shops? Do you see deep discounters, (dollar stores etc) sitting right outside the anchor tenant’s entrance. No chance! The anchor would simply not tolerate this. Do you see 2 or 3 jewelers stores placed side by side? Again, very unlikely. Conversely you may see almost all the food outlets clustered together in what’s called a ‘food court’. This has various benefits such as common use of seating, crockery etc.

So what is the best place to seek for your business? First you have to analyze your customers. Do they only come in business hours? Can they carry what they buy? The list is extensive, but in short you need to be familiar with your customer’s habits. Next you need to study the shopping centre plans. Look at where the anchor is. Look at the main entrances and exits. Look at corners and other places where people are likely to pause - outside a movie theatre for example. A couple of hours spent simply watching is also invaluable for this.

Now match up your customers with the characteristics of all the locations available. It’s no good running a video store inside the centre as your customers will want access to you after-hours. Nor do you want to be stuck by the infant changing room trying to sell power tools!

Copyright 2006 business-cards.com

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As any young freelance designer in Paris will tell you, you must approach design houses in Europe with an answer to their plea for something new and different, innovational and having never been done before. It makes one question weather beauty and wear-ability is no longer important so long as the press makes a comment or two even if those lines in the press are unflattering. After all, there is no such thing as bad press, right?

Interestingly enough, it seems the streets resonate a different attitude as reflected on the bodies of the people who are actually buying the clothes. By in large, it appears people want to look attractive and feel comfortable even as the fashion houses struggle to give the public exactly what they don’t even know the want yet. In fact, society may never want it.

The profession used to dictate what the public will wear. But the times, they are a changing. The public will not bend to fashion rules set out by creative directors tucked away in their ivory towers. The power has shifted, and the educated masses are interrupting a long held pattern. They want us to listen. They know what they want. They want to be surprised each new season, but pleasantly; as a thoughtful lover who remembers you love yellow roses, not an angry slap in the face from someone who is trying to convince them that they “love it”.

It is our job to find out where the key to their hearts is tucked away, find it, interpret what we find inside, and then entice the fashion disciples to choose what they will define as the look of any season. The trick is to interpret the social energy and create a fashion philosophy which reflects the wearers own. That means designers and trend reporters have to tap into every trend from music to the economy to politics with a global perspective. Clients are no longer buying into the “emperors’ new clothes” doctrine; “just trust the experts and wear it weather you like it or not” philosophy. They want real clothes, and they want their attire to reflect their beliefs without having to utter a word. They want their garments to live in synchronicity with their core values.

It is a big job, and finding the synchronicity between the trend setters and the old-school fashion houses is not an easy fit. Luckily, as people begin to discover and trust their own intuition, there are more choices for shoppers to adopt a personal representation. With the interesting new “non-trends” emerging on the horizon; consumers will have even more choice as their buying power increases.

As fashion creators in the world, it is our job to do more than cover bodies so they don’t get arrested in countries where garments are required. It is our duty to listen, hear, and let the public know we understand them and care about what they think. Not just in words, but through our gifts and offerings to them each season.

Jennifer Marvin is an American born Parisian fashion and accessories designer whose impeccable reputation is supported by international devotees. Her exclusive handbags, wedding gowns and made-to-measure pieces are hailed as rare treasures. Her work has been featured in British Vogue, auctioned by Sotheby’s, and sold on the worlds most fashionable streets. Jennifer Marvin serves an a consultant in fashion branding, market, color and trend forcasting globally.

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