I want to relocate a retail store to a more successful location.

I selected a small strip mall based on where I live and affordability. This is a second store that is not doing very well compared with store No. 1. I am considering relocating it to a more productive space but the rent is considerably higher. How would you handle this?

Move as soon as you can, and look at rent in your retail business as part of your overall marketing budget. Until you become a "destination" retailer (which is difficult unless you have a huge advertising budget), you need foot traffic to get sales, build a good customer base and get repeat business.

Those latter two items will be critical for continued growth, as you want to build long-term customer relationships by capturing as much information as you can about your customers, and go back to that existing customer base to market.

That way, you can use your new location to capture customers, and your data base marketing efforts to keep them.

All the best.
Brad Sugars