The traditional adage for retailers is that success depends on three factors: location, location, location. The less obvious adage is that an unfavorable lease can kill a fledgling business faster than almost any other decision. But the right location is more than its geography. For service businesses, population plus image may be crucial. However, for a manufacturer, cost of land, availability of labor and proximity to freeways and railroads may be important.
When we decided we wanted to open our retail office, there were many things on our short list. Decent square footage, visibility on a major thoroughfare, nice neighborhood, sizable population e-filing their tax returns, etc. But just like a person trying to find their dream home, it took a lot of searching to find what we were looking for.
Well after two months of visiting many neighborhoods, attending numerous showings, picking one spot and going through the process of lease negotiations, we are happy to announce that we finally have new digs for 2012! As you can see from the pics below, there is a lot of work to be done this month to get ready for our January opening:
But we’re pretty confident that we’ll be ready to hit the gound running when the IRS flips the switch the second week of January. Now we just need to focus on getting the electric transferred to us, the internet installed, picking out some furniture, getting our new business license for the location…
So just where is our new office? 2055 W. 95th Street in the lovely Beverly Hills (Beverly) area. Why did we locate here? This location met all of our criteria above not to mention it’s pretty accessible from both Chicago and the suburbs serviced by I-294. So no matter where you are traveling from, you can get to our office pretty easily. Plus, how can one resist an accountant who has a Beverly Hills address?