Meet the Supplier: Premier Retail Support

Premier Retail Support offers a comprehensive and detailed resource of unbiased information that covers all aspects of the retail real estate planning and development process, whether that’s for setting up a new store or expanding an existing one. It serves as a go-to manual that helps clients successfully navigate the entire process from start to finish.

Premier Retail Support was started by Dan O’Connell in 2022. O’Connell has been leasing commercial real estate for numerous companies for over 30 years. During his time in the industry, he learned lessons that have saved employers hundreds of thousands of dollars. He started Premier Retail Support with a team that boasts decades of collective experience catering to the needs of franchisees, entrepreneurs and franchisors. They have put their experience and knowledge into an easy-to-use format and have made it available to be accessed 24/7.

Premier Retail Support covers all of the steps in this process of real estate planning and development, including demographics, site selection, leasing variables and construction variables, all the way through to the grand opening stage. It outlines and explains in detail these steps in the process for clients.

By choosing Premier Retail Support, franchisees have the opportunity to learn from the team's combined 75-year experience in the commercial real estate and retail space industry. This includes learning how to navigate and negotiate real estate contracts, as well as ways to prevent mistakes that could end up costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Some examples of what franchisees can learn with Premier Retail Support include:

• Each necessary step (and length of time) in the new-store development process

• What milestones must be addressed when opening a first, second or fifth location

• How long it will take to open each location

• How to identify a premier location

• How to find “off-market opportunities”

• How to compare trade areas and demographics to mirror an ideal customer profile

• Why a planned store layout or plan-o-gram is so valuable when embarking on a site tour

• Why should they know what the market rents are for their selected trade area and learn what the “norms” are in commercial leasing

• What the variables are in site selection and which ones are most important

Franchisors can also benefit from working with Premier Retail Support. The supplier can teach brands how to enable franchisees to identify the best demographics, select the best sites and optimize their contracts.

For example, franchisors can learn:

• How to select brokers that understand expansion needs

• How to educate brokers so that they present every site with the same information and in the same format

• How to prepare brochures with site criteria for use by brokers, landlords and franchisees

• How to incorporate money-saving ideas into expansion plans

• How to compare and contrast trade areas and demographics to mirror the ideal customer profile

• What the variables are in site selection, and which ones are most important

• Why destination retailers pay less rent than Impulse retailers

• What business terms are “must be” items in a Letter of Intent (LOI)

By working with Premier Retail Support, franchisors and franchisees can better navigate the treachery that can come with the real estate process and better set themselves up for success.