Convenience
The densest retail network in the country, which makes competitive spacing the question that decides it.
What it weighs most
Traffic count
25% of the score. The rest is on this page.
01 / The problem
The densest retail network in the country. You are not hunting for demand, you are hunting for a corner nobody has already taken, on the right side of the road, in the right direction.
02 / The decisions it serves
Not a report. A decision somebody has to sign.
Each of these is a question your team already asks, and currently answers with a spreadsheet, a phone call and a fortnight.
Whether the corner is any good
Intersection quality and access. Right-in and right-out only, on the wrong side, is a different business.
Which way the commute runs
The morning flow decides whether they stop or pass. It is not symmetrical.
Whether you need fuel
In a suburban market where every competitor has it, not having it is a structural disadvantage rather than a positioning choice.
Whether the inside sales are there
Sixty to seventy per cent of gross profit comes from what is sold in the shop, not at the pump.
03 / The method, in the open
Here is exactly what it weighs. Argue with it.
Most tools will not show you this, because most tools do not have it. These are the weights the playbook really uses.
Traffic count
Corner and intersection quality
Population within a 5-minute drive
Commute flow position
Which side of the road you are on
Competitor convenience stores
Residential density for walk-up
Daytime employment population
Store size and configuration
04 / It is willing to say no
It does not hand you numbers. It gives you a verdict.
An assistant that only ever agrees with you is a mirror, not an analyst. This one holds a line, names the thing that kills the deal, and will tell you to walk away from a site you already like.
The thresholds it holds you to
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Traffic above 25,000 a day for a fuel site, or 15,000 for a non-fuel urban one.
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At least 15,000 people within a five-minute drive.
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Fewer than three competitors within half a mile on the same corridor.
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A store of 2,500 to 5,000 square feet, endcap or freestanding.
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Inside sales carry the business: 60 to 70% of gross profit comes from what is sold in the shop, not the pump.
What it will not let you ignore
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Under 15,000 vehicles a day, with no walk-up density to compensate.
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No fuel opportunity in a suburban market where the competitors all have fuel.
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Difficult intersection access: right-in and right-out only, on the wrong side.
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No beer and wine licence available, which takes a serious bite out of inside sales.
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A dollar store or pharmacy nearby capturing the same convenience trips.
05 / Why not just ask an AI
A fluent answer and a defensible one are not the same thing.
Every model will answer a location question now, and most of the answers sound right. Ask twice and you get two of them. Ask where the number came from and the room goes quiet.
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Commute flow position is a scored factor, not a note in the appendix. Which side of the road you are on is worth more than most of the demographics.
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It checks whether a beer and wine licence is available, because losing it takes a serious bite out of the inside sales the business runs on.
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It flags a dollar store or pharmacy nearby as competition, because they take the same convenience trip even though they are not convenience stores.
06 / What it runs on, and what you get
The data underneath
Licensed and authoritative, and named in the output, so the number keeps its source when it travels.
- Esri GeoEnrichment
- Census
- Traffic counts
What you walk out with
A scored assessment against every factor above, on the live map, with the method beside it.
The method it used and the vintage of every number travel with it, so it still holds up when somebody asks you why in six months.
How an answer travels07 / It pairs with
Nobody makes one decision in isolation. Most teams run this alongside two or three of these.
Run Convenience on something you already decided. See if it agrees with you.
The honest test of a method is whether it reaches the conclusion your best analyst already reached, and tells you plainly when it does not.
Twenty minutes, and you can argue with the weights.