One of the most closely watched metrics in measuring the relative desirability of a business location is traffic count. Having a real estate broker that can access this information in real time is highly valued by tenants who consider this critical information.
But consider this: One of the most heavily traveled roads in Southern California is Pacific Coast Highway. For the affluent population residing near the Pacific Ocean, this road connects all of the communities up and down the coast. Most of the highway is wide and carries a large volume of traffic efficiently. But many of the retail shops that line the highway are struggling or empty. This may have you scratching your head, but stay with me here…there is a very sensible explanation. In some locations along the highway, convenient ingress and egress are sacrificed due to high volume, high speed traffic flow – people are zooming by and don’t slow down long enough to identify the businesses in the area. The rent premium paid for high traffic at these locations is unfortunately wasted; worse, it becomes a burden that could put the business under. What a shame.
There is more to traffic count than meets the eye. It is more than just a number: Is the subject traffic artery busy due to local commerce, or is it a favored route across town or to the freeway? Is exposure of your brand (i.e. your sign) your goal, or is your objective fitting strategically into the fabric of shopping patterns for your target customer? There is no universal right or wrong here. But you need to define what is right or wrong for your business.
You and your real estate broker need to clearly understand your customer and their reasons and methods of patronizing your business. Traffic count is indeed very valuable information, but only if interpreted correctly.
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