Location, Location, Location – Bad locations are just as bad as no location (Part 1 of 3)

Most of us have been taught the importance of location and placement. You wouldn’t go to a grocery store if you found the cereals in the freezer section or the beer on several different aisles. But that is exactly what happens when your business or product has a poor location or placement.

I remember that about four years ago a woman approached Newman Partnership Ltd. (NPL) for a market research project for her restaurant. The restaurant was located in a small town outside of Charleston, SC. And she wanted to know why her restaurant was failing. She had been a successful restaurant manager, but this was her first personal endeavor.

It only took me about 15 minutes of observational research to understand the trouble. She had opened a four star restaurant in a two star town. While the menu was reasonably priced, the atmosphere was extremely artistic. And the only people dinning there were wearing flannel shirts and baseball caps for John Deer.

The client explained to NPL that business was only really booming during a single time in the year, the Hampton County Watermelon Festival. But during the rest of the year she could barely stay in business.

Although I already knew the answer to her problem, I asked that she give me a few weeks to do some research, think about her problem and develop a few options.

(Lloyd N. Newman’s , founder of the Newman Partnership Ltd., favorite answer, “Let me think about it.”)

This is the first of a three-part blog. Next time I will discuss the initial ideas that Newman Partnership Ltd. brought to the table. And why, in some cases, a poor location is just as bad as having no location.

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