Visit stores which seem to be more prosperous. Make notes regarding the amount of space, layout, signage, merchandise mix and pricing. Shop the store. Ask questions of the retail sales staff. In some cases, you may want to tell them you are considering opening a competing store in another part of town. Most people are friendly and want to help if it won't hurt them. Ask is your store successful. Ask questions about their clientele. What types of people shop at the store? Who are their best customers? What do customers want? Is price most important or service more important? What merchandise moves best? Which distributors do they like best?

Travel to retail spaces occupied by competitors in three to five other cities. Repeat the process of making notes regarding relevant items and speaking with the retail sales staff. Attempt to learn the best practices and new trends. Do your competitors in other cities employ an approach not used in your city? Is it successful? Most business success comes from incremental improvements. Few people make the breakthrough improvements such as inventing the telephone or the electric light bulb. However, by doing research regarding what is working best for your competitors in your city and in three or five other cities, you radically improve your chance of successfully serving customers and having a successful business.

The next step is to compile data to infer what makes a retail space location successful. For perhaps 5 to 10 (total) of the more prosperous stores within your metropolitan area and in other cities, compile data for the relevant radius regarding demographics and psychographics. Demographics includes information such as the number of households, population who lives in the area, population who works in the area, income level of people who live in the area, income level of people who work in the area and population growth trends.

Psychographics is a relatively new concept in terms of regular application by business. Psychographics considers the income, education and attitude of the residents. People are divided into six plus groups based upon a series of criteria. Many businesses set down that psychographics are more insightful in estimating the location of a business versus demographics. A successful location will need to meet certain demographic criteria. However, locations which meet these criteria can be evaluated more carefully using psychographics.