Finding Quality Tenants for Retail Property Leasing

A shopping centre is a special place when it comes to tenant selection, leasing, and tenant placement.  The tenancy mix within a shopping centre has to be balanced with the right businesses and product or service offerings.  On that basis a retail leasing agent must have a good prospecting plan that taps into the right tenants for every property and client.

If you are working in the specialist segment of the property market called ‘Retail Leasing’, you have a few alternatives to work on and clients that you can serve.  Here is a list to help your choices:

• Landlords seeking tenants for shopping centres or malls
• Tenants seeking to relocate to other premises
• Property developers wanting to ‘project lease’ new properties coming up for leasing
• Franchise groups looking to expand or relocate premises
• Tenant advocacy services for retail tenants

So it is quite clear that all of these parts of the leasing market are quite special.  You can create a lot of leasing opportunities from each.  It directly follows that the quality of clients and listings that you work on will impact the negotiations and commissions that you create.  Be selective in the vacancies and the clients that you serve.

Finding the Best Retail Tenants

Here are some tips to help you find the right tenants in retail leasing today:

1. Check out the competing properties in the local area for tenancy movement and tenancy placement.  Look for the strengths and weaknesses in the tenancy mix for each property, and make your notes accordingly.  Identify the successful tenants within each of those properties and make direct contact to see if those tenants would like to move at some stage in the future.
2. The tenant mix analysis process is quite special.  It requires a keen eye and an understanding of the retail shopping centre business.  A successful retail property will be integrated into the population demographic and the local community.  The tenants that you choose for any upcoming vacancy in a retail property should be well selected for that perfect match.  There are many types of tenants that can be suited to a retail occupancy.  Look at the surrounding tenants within the shopping centre and understand the customer demographic.  The tenant that you choose for the vacancy should be selected on offering, and then qualified for business stability, for experience, and long-term occupancy.
3. Understand the process of clustering as it applies to retail leasing.  In itself, clustering is a special process of gathering tenants within a precinct or zone of a property and helping them successfully trade from the relationships and proximity to each other.  Ideally a customer for one tenant should be able to leave the shop after a purchase, and then move into another shop very quickly to continue the sale and purchase process.
4. A successful retail property is one that has been planned when it comes to the existing and upcoming lease occupancy, and then well marketed around the tenancy mix.  A successful shopping centre will provide the landlord with income stability, and create lower vacancy factors.  It directly follows that the retail leasing process is quite special and requires a high degree of retail leasing knowledge.  You can create a leasing strategy and a tenant mix plan for all shopping centres within your control.  You can also create the tenant retention plans annually for the landlords that you serve.

The property market revolves around the selling and purchasing of goods.  Retail Property leasing is a big part of that plan and cycle.  If you choose to specialise in this part of the market, the rewards can be significant.  Get to know the landlords and the tenants in your region across the entire retail sector.