A vibrant and varied retail offering is the cornerstone of any town centre, and the ‘bricks and mortar’ part of the sector is continuing to perform very well in the face of competition from online retailers.

Retail is changing rapidly in the face of unprecedented shifts in the traditional retail model, yet there remain significant opportunities within the sector for retailers who adapt; investing in their businesses to offer new product lines and tapping into shifting customer demand.

Turnover volumes can be high, producing a good return for those who choose to invest in convenience stores, supermarkets, off-licences, petrol forecourts and garden centres.

Convenience Retail 

Post Offices can add significant revenue to retail, not just in terms of direct revenue but by attracting customers into the store. Additional revenue streams can be derived from introducing lottery machines, PayPoint, travel passes, dry cleaning, parcel collection and deliveries. 

Petrol Filling Stations 

Particularly in petrol forecourts, retailers are increasingly offering ‘food to go’, including in store franchises such as Costa, Subway, Starbucks, Greggs, Slush Puppies and so on. Some forecourt operators are partnering with retailers such as Premier, Mace, Spar, Nisa, Budgens, leveraging other brands to encourage customers to stop by. 

Alternatively, some rural forecourts (particularly in more affluent areas) are opting for an independent farm shop/deli approach. 

Diversification is key, providing it compliments rather than distracts from the core business. 

Garden Centres 

Garden centres often have land that can be utilised for additional revenue streams - food and beverage, retail, children’s play centre, concessions, garden furniture, flowers and barbecues.  

Many of them are multigenerational businesses and operators can be unaware of the value of their sites – we can help unlock some of this to help them develop the offerings mentioned above. 

Visit christie.com to understand more about the garden centre sector. 

Retail loan features

The terms of a commercial loan against a retail property will vary considerably from lender to lender but, as a general rule, the following will apply:

Key Factors to Consider for Your Loan Application

When you are thinking about buying a business there are various things that both you and a potential lender will need to consider: 

• Experience – do you have the right level of experience to run the business? How will you run it?
• Performance – how well is the business doing? Is it in a good location? Is there enough profit in the business to be able to repay a loan easily and personally benefit from?
• A deposit of 30% or more
• Good credit history
• Two years' trading accounts and income projections
• Strong proposal from Christie Finance
• Additional security
• Business plan
• Proof of experience