You have heard it said before that when planning a business nothing may be as important to the success of that business as the location that you place it in.  For retail businesses — a stand alone building, a strip mall, a shopping mall — all are potential locations, but the key is to figure out which type of building and where to put that building for maximum profits.

One thing that has been proven in the American retail industry is that location matters.  Most often it is best to be in an “A” location which is expensive but can drive business to your door rather than be in a “B” location where you have to figure out a way (usually thru advertising) to get business to your door.  When Ray Kroc was greatly expanding McDonalds in the 1970’s it was all about the location.  As a matter of fact, it was said for quite some time that the real estate that McDonald’s controlled was worth more than the McDonald’s business.

But what about a funeral home. . . .where is a great location for a funeral home?  If you are thinking of building in the next 5-10 years the time is now to search out some properties.  I don’t know for all of you, but we built a new location in 2006 and here is how I went about finding what has became a terrific location for us.

In no particular order, here is what I looked for at the time.

• The site had to be zoned for a funeral home/crematory or have a very good chance of changing the zoning to accommodate our needs.  In the end, we signed a purchase agreement for a parcel of property contingent on getting a “variance” to operate a mortuary and crematory.
• I believed, and still do, that funeral homes are best situated “between” the business district and the residential district.  We found three acres of property directly next to a church that was adjacent to the business community.  On the other side of the property was the beginning of a residential district.  My thought is that we were close enough to the business district, but many people drove right by us everyday on their way to/from work.  The visibility was excellent.
• A large non-denominational cemetery was within two blocks of us. . . somewhat beginning across the street from the church.  My thoughts were that anyone looking at lots or columbariums in that cemetery prior to need would also see that a funeral home was conveniently located very near.  If a family had no preconceived  idea of what funeral home to use, seeing us as conveniently located to the cemetery could not hurt.
• I also believed that while we were on a very well traveled road, there should be multiple ways to get to the funeral home.  This location did have other less traveled roads with the ability to “converge” on the funeral home site.
• Parking — the property had to have ample room for off-street parking.  Street parking can be difficult and we wanted our visitation and funeral goers to have convenience.  We did not want to make it difficult for them to visit.

So, there you have it.  Just some thoughts on what I looked for and what has worked for us.  I certainly don’t think my list is exhaustive of what may work, but probably the best suggestion that this helps with is just to know what you are looking for in property.  My lesson was that a well thought out plan usually works!!

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