[jblaska]

Hello all. I currently have a small retail business in Bay City here at the local mall. After being here for about a year I am realizing that this mall has the lowest amount of traffic/sales of 10 other malls the development property owns. I may or may not keep this store open so my options are kind of open at this point.

I am ready to get out of the Saginaw/Bay City area and would like to move the business to another city with a larger mall. Here is the list I have come up with where I would like to go:

Rivertown Crossing- Grandville
The Crossroads- Portage
Centerpointe Mall- Grand Rapids
Grand Traverse Mall- Traverse City
Lansing Mall- Lansing

I am seriously considering moving there also along with the store. I have no kids, not married, and 27. Does anyone have any idea about a good location? My family is here but I do have friends in the Kalamazoo area.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by jblaska

Hello all. I currently have a small retail business in Bay City here at the local mall. After being here for about a year I am realizing that this mall has the lowest amount of traffic/sales of 10 other malls the development property owns. I may or may not keep this store open so my options are kind of open at this point.

I am ready to get out of the Saginaw/Bay City area and would like to move the business to another city with a larger mall. Here is the list I have come up with where I would like to go:

Rivertown Crossing- Grandville
The Crossroads- Portage
Centerpointe Mall- Grand Rapids
Grand Traverse Mall- Traverse City
Lansing Mall- Lansing

I am seriously considering moving there also along with the store. I have no kids, not married, and 27. Does anyone have any idea about a good location? My family is here but I do have friends in the Kalamazoo area.

Rivertown Crossings seems to be packed all the time, and apparently gets about 15 Million visitors annually*. That being said, I have seen some stores go out of there apparently not able to make it. That area around the Grandville/Byron Center/Hudsonville area is one of the fastest growing in the metro area.

What kind of retail store do you have?

* http://www.ggp.com/Content/Data/mall...s_mallfact.pdf

[jblaska]

Its an electronics store. Very small. I do ok where I am now but not enough to really make anything out of it. Sales are generally $3-4k/month excluding the holiday season (which this is my first holiday season in this mall).

There is an operator next to me that has a location in the Grandville mall and he says it is one of his more profitable stores. What about areas to live? I will be looking for an apartment around $500-600/month. Also I am trying to keep my commute to under 20 minutes.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by jblaska

Its an electronics store. Very small. I do ok where I am now but not enough to really make anything out of it. Sales are generally $3-4k/month excluding the holiday season (which this is my first holiday season in this mall).

There is an operator next to me that has a location in the Grandville mall and he says it is one of his more profitable stores. What about areas to live? I will be looking for an apartment around $500-600/month. Also I am trying to keep my commute to under 20 minutes.

There are quite a few apartments in Grandville and the surrounding area for that price range. Ramblewood is an older one, but it's pretty picturesque and looks like a state park (nestled in a large wooded area near 44th and Byron Center East of the mall). I think there may even be some decent apartments within walking distance of the mall.

Select Living Guide covers a lot of apartments in the suburban area, and where we found our first and second apartments when we moved here 10 years ago:

Selectliving.com West Michigan's Indispensable Relocation Guide

Don't forget to check out downtown Grand Rapids too for retail opportunities. Retail rents will be a lot cheaper, and there are thousands of college kids downtown at GVSU, GRCC, Kendall and Cooley Law School. Most of the retail is along Monroe Center.

Commercial Alliance of Realtors - West Michigan (broken link)
(put in "Monroe Center" under street name)

Also Cherry Street near Diamond is a hopping little urban retail area now.

Grand Rapids – Rapid Growth - East Hills-Cherry Hill Moving Guide

Good luck!

[jblaska]

Thank you for the info! That should give me a good place to get started!

[suydam]

I'll second Magellan's sentiments. Look beyond the malls! Grand Rapids would be a great market for you. Perhaps you can locate yourself near a complimentary business? I'm thinking of something like trying to locate yourself next to something like Norman Camera where a small electronics shop might get float-over shoppers.

You might also look at a place like Gaslight Village in East Grand Rapids. There are some retail vacancies there and the shoppers are pretty affluent.

[Cliffie]

Lansing is one of the few really vital areas in the state; another would be Ann Arbor and a third would be Howell/Brighton.

[jblaska]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to be focusing on shopping malls for the business. At least for now. I started with a storefront in a Wal Mart plaza in Saginaw and was forced to move into a mall due to a lot higher traffic counts there.

I have an existing lease with my current mall and they operate Grand Traverse Mall, River town Crossing (Grandville) and Birchwood Mall in Port Huron. The only openings for my line would be in Traverse City or Port Huron. I have yet to look into other malls owned by different companies.