I used to identify, negotiate, and open new Walmarts across the county.
I've lurked on this sub, and seen a few posts of people talking about retail and also getting a job for a retail company.  I'm happy to answer any questions you people might have.  
[{"id": "dxl49yr", "text": "I currently identify, negotiate, and open new retail stores for a financial services / insurance company in South Africa. It would be interesting to compare the differences between standard practice in America and South Africa", "replies": [{"id": "dxl4g7u", "text": "I've worked with our international team, primarily in Mexico and China.  It would be interesting to discuss.  What do you normally look for in a site?  ", "replies": [{"id": "dxl4z15", "text": "High foot traffic and good exposure near public transport networks (taxi ranks and train stations). We focus on life insurance and funeral policies and target lower income groups. How about you?", "replies": [{"id": "dxlauy5", "text": "It's interesting, because while you always look for traffic counts, income, density and competition, with a Walmart you have to be aware that in the extremely high density and high income areas the format doesn't always do well.  In addition, the West Coast has both density and high income, but a customer disposition that is very combative against Walmart.  \n\nI was also very hyperaware of cannibalism, since more often than not the opening of a new Walmart was going to be taking sales from another Walmart format.  \n\nSo do you buy retail stores?  It sounds like you're buying them for a fund.", "replies": [{"id": "dxljmv5", "text": "After the preliminary criteria have been met, such as traffic count, income and density; how much more extensive research goes into site selection? ", "replies": [{"id": "dxllgbo", "text": "A lot.  Those are the easy variables.  The difficult ones are things like employee retention, employee wages, and legal considerations.  You have to consider how much competition is there for workers in the area,because that\u2019s going to affect your starting wage and retention rates.\n\nThen you have to think will there be opposition, such as unions, or environmental litigation.  Not to mention, what kind of restrictions are in place.  If you\u2019re in a shopping center, and there\u2019s an existing grocery, then chances are you can\u2019t sell any groceries, which means you don\u2019t have a full offering, which means you\u2019re not as convenient to the customer.\n\nThat\u2019s not even taking into consideration the physical layout of the site.  How many exits are there?  Is there a signalized exit?  Are you on the going home side?  Who are your neighbors?  Chick Fil A may sound like an awesome neighbor, but at lunch they could eat up your parking.\n\nThere\u2019s so much that goes into choosing a site, that it goes well beyond just the base metrics like traffic counts, income and density.", "replies": [{"id": "dxltv1o", "text": "Is it easy to get in touch with the current operator in your previous position? Not just for Walmart but let's say someone who does this with a 24 Hour Fitness, Papa John's, any of the national retailers similar to Walmart. \n\nThanks btw, you have good insight  \ud83d\udc4d", "replies": [{"id": "dxmdot6", "text": "Thank you, it\u2019s been my pleasure.  It is easy to get in touch with those in my position, you just have to know where to look.  ICSC is the easiest to find everyone in my role, because we are there doing deals.  You can also google \u201ccompany name\u201d + \u201creal estate\u201d and generally there\u2019s a site and a map showing everyone and their territory.\n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}, {"id": "dybpzhr", "text": "Game, a subsidiary of Massmart, and in turn a subsidiary of Walmart recently successfully won a case relating to anti competitive behaviour with generic retail leases which prevented selling of food. Shoprite, pick n pay, spar, checkers (south african food retailers) would only enter into leases with developers with a food restraint of trade clause. As a result they now sell food in centres they were previously unable to do so. ", "replies": [], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}, {"id": "dybpeg1", "text": "Walmart own Massmart (Makro) which operates on a similar model in Africa but are fortunate to not have customer disposition issues. \n\nI suspect H &amp; M roll out of stores in RSA is also experiencing cannibalism and probably why their expansion has been slow. I think their roll out in RSA was tougher than expected.\n\nI represent the financial institution (CRES). The company i work for does have a fund and a development arm. But thats not my focus.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dxl4jdy", "text": "Interested -   From a multi family background some questions I wouldn\u2019t know to ask.  \n\n\nDid you work for a developer that bought, developed and leased the land ?  Or for Walmart ?", "replies": [{"id": "dxl5qdu", "text": "I am guessing OP worked for a transactional advisor handling walmarts real estate requirements", "replies": [{"id": "dxl5wxz", "text": "Birmingham has a large developer - MAP development.   Seems that Wal Mart is now focusing more on the neighborhood markets ?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "dxlaokc", "text": "Not a bad guess, but I actually worked for Walmart Real Estate.  So I had a territory that I was responsible for, and had a goal of number of stores and returns that I was always working towards.", "replies": [{"id": "dybqbf5", "text": "Retail cannibalism could ultimately have an unfair reflection of your performance in terms of meeting your new store target", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "dxlalz6", "text": "I worked for Walmart.  I managed brokers, attorneys and GCs in the development of Walmart stores.  I would structure and negotiate the purchase and sale or lease.  ", "replies": [{"id": "dybqebl", "text": "What type of education and experience would be required for this role. Is there an equivalent for Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and is this recognised in the states?", "replies": [{"id": "dz7vrsj", "text": "Apologies for the delay in my response, but now the best way other than having the experience at another company, is to come in right out of college.  Being an intern is your best bet.\n\nThat said, establishing a relationship as a broker could be a way in, but not one that is often successful.\n\nEducation wise, having a strong Business background like in finance or economics is helpful, and having your Masters in Real Estate, or MBA helps a lot as well.  To be honest, it\u2019s not easy to get in, but timing also plays a role.\n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "dxlb1t3", "text": "I also worked with a lot of Multi-Family developers.  If I was a multi-family developer, I would not want a Walmart near my development, but I would want a Walmart Neighborhood Market.  While a Walmart does have a customer type, and will draw people to it, the higher on the socioeconomic scale you become, the less likely you are to shop at Walmart.\n\nBut supermarkets are all about convenience and price, and so with a Walmart Neighborhood Market, regardless of whether you have luxury apartments, million dollar homes, or expensive vacation homes, the people who live there will tend to do some of their grocery shopping at a Walmart Neighborhood Market simply because of the convenience of it.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dxm02ec", "text": "How do you recommend developers build the initial relationships with corporate real estate guys without any prior experience doing your own projects?  Is it more of a \u201ctake me out to the strip club and get me drunk\u201d type relationship, or is it more professional and based on past experience?", "replies": [{"id": "dxmdxg5", "text": "I can tell you for a company like Walmart, strip clubs are a way to not get picked.  We can\u2019t even let you pay for lunch, so strip clubs are not going to get you business.\n\nThe best way is for a new developer to have a site under contract that Walmart, or any retailer wants to be, and then only offer the site through you being the developer.  All the major retailers already have developers they work with, and there are hundreds out there wanting to work with them, but true good sites are hard to come by.  Having a site Walmart wants enough would be the best way to start that relationship.\n\nYes this entails more risk, but it\u2019s better than trying to establish a relationship without anything except some scantily clad women.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dxm3xou", "text": "My family owns a 10,000 SF strip center in front of a Super Walmart in Houston. There is currently 2,000SF of 2nd generation space available that just hasn't been able to stay leased up consistently. The land is small so there cannot be any more restaurants put inside due to parking constrains. My question to you would be whether you notice a set of particular businesses that open up and are successful in front of Super Walmart's?", "replies": [{"id": "dxmcapr", "text": "I can probably help. PM me. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "dxme7g0", "text": "This is a great question, and is something that Walmart is really focused on at the moment.  First question is is the Walmart in your center, or across the street.  If you\u2019re in the same center, I would call the Walmart Real Estate manager who manages it, and ask this question.  Without being able to go into specifics, this is something that Walmart has been thinking about.\n\nIf you\u2019re not in the same center, then you\u2019re best to think about uses like a QSR.  However since it sounds like a mid block space, that\u2019s going to be hard to fill, and won\u2019t really have connectivity to Walmart.", "replies": [{"id": "dxmk05l", "text": "Long time lurker as well, but this question/reply hit home for me. Currently own a strip center shadow anchored by Walmart Supercenter and Walgreens. We lost Dollar Tree (15 year tenant) to a new development site across the street. We now have 8,700SF of vacancy and have failed to gain any traction with national retailers. A location that we thought would be a hot commodity has now gone stagnant. Any advice would be extremely helpful.  ", "replies": [{"id": "dxmpkfl", "text": "8,700 SF is a lot of space for a single tenant, and I\u2019m assuming you have a broker marketing it.  Could be the space is too deep?  Can you demise the space into smaller leasable spaces?  You\u2019re in a difficult spot, especially with retail changing the way it is.  \n\nYou could renovate the center to become more competitive, but that will take capital, and not sure if you want to spend that.  However, since you\u2019ve got anew development across the street, I don\u2019t know if you can afford not to.  \n\nDo you have any outlets you can sell to attract a new QSR, or something else to become a draw to your center while also bringing in an influx of cash?  Also, I would see what national retailers are not there in your area, and begin reaching out to those retailers that are absent.  For example, if O\u2019Reilly\u2019s auto parts have two locations in a certain radius, but there are no auto zones, then reach out to autozone and give them some free rent and TIs to move in. \n\nBut retail is all about competition, and if there\u2019s a certain retailer across the street, go talk to their competitors.  If you want to talk more, feel free to pm me, because I love real estate.", "replies": [{"id": "dxmzxeh", "text": "Thanks so much for the feedback here, always great to hear from the other side of the table. We're currently marketing the hell out of the property. ICSC Events, CoStar/Loopnet, Property Website, Banner on site, etc. I've reached out to about 30-40 national retailers thus far with little success. So I guess my biggest question is - What's the best way to sell Real Estate Managers of retail tenants on a site that may been in their wheel house from a size, demographic, and location stand point - but is in a market that they may not be familiar with.\n\nIt seems as though Owner to Tenant deals are a thing of the past and it would almost makes more sense to market directly to brokers...(does that mean strip clubs are back on the table? Ha) ", "replies": [{"id": "dxn71du", "text": "Strip Clubs are still off IMO haha, unless you're marketing industrial space.  That said, all you can really do is potentially make a deal that's so good they should take a look.  Maybe a year of free rent?  Maybe significant TIs?  I mean it's all about sales and returns, and if you can decrease expenses you can increase return.  You need to really do a market deep dive, and figure what retailers are within a good radius, and compile a target list of retailers based on a void analysis.\n\nYour broker should be able to do this, and if they can't, then maybe look for a new broker.  You can also start to get creative.  Think about having maybe food truck Fridays.  Maybe there's a small business in the area that you can work with to get them in the space.  But you want to increase traffic to your site, and you can only do that with the right tenant mix.\n\nAs far as Real Estate Managers, they are probably looking at a ton of sites at any given time, so if you can give them data that they don't have, like what retail is missing in the area, or that some new apartment development is going up down the street, or that you'd give them a sweetheart deal, something different from the other 100 sites across the country, then maybe you'll pique their interest.\n\nBut at 8,700 SF, I would think about what can I put there in the interim.  \n\n", "replies": [{"id": "dybqx87", "text": "Sometimes a good presentation pack prepared by architects/interior designers with a retail focus can go a long way to assisting with marketing the product to potential tenants or providing ideas for an \"arcade type\" space. I think it really depends on the charactristics of the property. But yes complimentary and competitive would be a good place to start", "replies": [{"id": "dz7vuhv", "text": "A good pack could, but if it was my territory, I wouldn\u2019t even look at it.  The only things that matters is return.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "dxmy5n2", "text": "It is actually in the same center and the entrance and exit for the Wal-Mart forces a lot of traffic next to the building. Another QSR would be ideal, but there is already a Subway and donut shop in the strip center so the city won\u2019t allow it due to parking. The space is actually on the outer most corner. ", "replies": [{"id": "dxn6b1v", "text": "Any chance the city would allow a variance?  If not, what type of retailers have you been pursuing?  Have you reached out to dialysis centers, dentists, or gyms?  I would call the Walmart Real Estate manager, tell them you've got a vacancy in your center, and would like to see if there is a specific use they would prefer.  Then they could potentially connect you with other retailers.  \n\nNot saying they will or can, but it's worth a shot.  If you're willing to share with me the layout of your center, I can give you more thoughts.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dxmcb07", "text": "What are you doing now? ", "replies": [{"id": "dxmhqyf", "text": "I can't go into specifics, but I can tell you that everyone that I know of who has left, whether it was their choice or not, is doing much better.  Many of us have moved up one or two levels from when we were at Walmart, and we are applying what we learned there to our new places.  While the place has changed dramatically, if you want to know how retail real estate works, it's the best place to learn.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dzpuh3p", "text": "Hello there!  What are the odds that this account is still used?  Was hoping to ask you a few questions about your former role.  I have a very similar opportunity that I am considering taking and was hoping we could chat.\n\nThanks", "replies": [{"id": "dzqf636", "text": "PM me and I\u2019d be happy to chat", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]