Carefully Read and Understand your Location Lease before Signing

Whenever you start a dollar store, one of your biggest expenses every month will be your lease payment.  It is vital for you to carefully read and understand your lease before you sign it.  You would not want to get stuck in a contract which is not in your best interest.  Here are a few things to pay attention to.

Hopefully you understand the importance of choosing the right location when you open a dollar store.  Having the right location usually determines how successful your venture turns out to be.  Make sure your lease does not have you paying too much money for a location which is not worth every penny.

You should check out the leases of other businesses in your area and see how much they are paying.  Knowing the current rates will help you decide if you will be on the hook for too much money every month.

Before you sign your lease when you start a dollar store it is best for you to try your hand at negotiating.  You can often get a better deal if you do.  At the very least you should try to get a period of free rent.  This will give you a couple of months to get your business running well before you have to start making payments.

It is important to note some leases will dictate your hours of operation.  This means you will not be able to choose your own operating hours.  If you want the right to choose your own hours of operation, then make sure the lease does not have any language preventing you from doing so.

Another common stipulation you will find in some leases regards your display area for products.  They may limit the amount of space you can devote to displaying certain products in your store.  This can often limit your profits if the products covered by the lease are your biggest money-makers.

When you start a dollar store you will also need to pay attention to the requirements for maintaining the heating and air conditioning equipment.  It can be quite expensive to replace one of these commercial systems.  It is best for you to agree to pay for routine maintenance and have the landlord take care of any major repairs which might be required.

Anytime you start a dollar store you will need to pay a hefty amount of money every month for your lease.  Try not to get stuck paying more money than the location is worth.  Make sure you understand all of the restrictions you will have too.