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Dealing with a Horrible Landlord

R

RobT

New member
After 16 years at my current location, My current landlord is trying to call my bluff. I gave him the specs of a new location for me which would drop my rent cost and give me double the size of my current location. Location is about 1 mile down the road and trade area will be the same as prior location.

Mentally exhausted of dealing with Inflated CAM, snowplow, and paying their insurance premium.
New Location is a very small company who is going to give me everything i want. And i don’t have to pay for anything except the increased taxes on the building!

Not looking forward to a buildout, but i’ll be more happy getting away from those people.

Anyone have experience moving to another location and impact on sales? I just have no clue what kinda impact it will have on the numbers… i currently do 52% delivery 35% pickup, and 12% To go orders.
 
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Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a little plan, Stan. Don’t need to be coy, Roy. Just get yourself free. Sounds like the stress relief alone would be worth it. I’ve never moved a location, but I suggest that you analyze your “pickup” customers to see if a move down the road would impact that segment (it’s a big segment at 35%) Plus (if I’ve read your posting here right … your segmented sales numbers add up to 99%, so I can’t tell if you do 1% sit down now, or no sit down at all) you should have plenty of space to add sit-down in the new spot … if you can do that, plus add beer to the equation (this would be the time to consider it), you may find that sales will improve substantially … nice new place, fresh new rest rooms, maybe even table service (especially if you can add beer). It might even be an opportunity to review your menu to consider deletions or new offerings … and maybe review pricing too, since you would likely do some marketing of the NEW RobT Pizza, and folks would be more understanding of modest price increases.
 
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Just switch your advertising to talking about the move as it approaches. Marketing dollars spent telling your market about the move are great $$ spent. Tell the story that you are growing into a larger location. Nothing succeeds like success. Talk about your excitement in the move. Put up posters and banners and use box toppers at your existing location starting a month before the move. Use the move to make whatever other changes you have in the back of your mind.
 
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We moved to a new location in 2013 after 3 years of having a horrible landlord, it was a great move all across the board. Of course the guy took me to court, but I won.
The building that I was in was near uninhabitable for 5 months of the year due to heating issues, and the building was also crumbling around me.

Our move wasn’t just down the street, it was a different city, and a different county, but still within 4 -5 miles of our first spot.
Our sales increased exponentially with the move into larger and more suitable spot, but I also found out that getting your location changed with all the review sites is very difficult.
I still have some sites showing us at our old location 2 years later. So maybe try to get on that ASAP
 
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I would say if you have time (a month or so) to advertise the move, go for it. And just remember to remind everyone after the move for awhile where they are picking it up/ordering it from. I assume you can get out of the old lease easily, right? Otherwise, that might be your biggest worry.
 
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Thanks for the responses.

My current lease expires march 1, 2016. I have to start now because buildouts out here in ny require so much time with permits and everything.

My gameplan is to be out by either December or January , and keep the current location empty for a few months (paying the rent of course) .

The 1% missing is catering to the above poster.

I’m really scared of the buildout. Paying 2 rents and building is going to add up fast .
 
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If your new landlord really wants you in there, you should not be paying rent there until you are open and maybe not even then for a while. You could also ask for a reduced rent during the time you are paying for two leases.

don’t ask… don’t get.
 
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Just want to echo what Bodegahwy just said about asking for consideration from your potential new landlord (before you sign a lease with him). If that location is vacant, has been vacant for a number of months or is otherwise not attracting a tenant you should be able to negotiate a rent free “build-out” period (remind him that the build-out process is long and costly in that jurisdiction). And a lease calling for a gradual escalation over something like 6 months to the full rent might also be something you can negotiate by reminding the landlord that moving to this new location will likely result in temporarily losing sales. Tell him that if he can see his way clear to consider these requests, you will consider extending the lease by another year beyond whatever he is asking for. You will probably want a couple of 5-year extension options included in the lease anyway.
 
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after discussing the lease term with him and discussing buildout time, the first year of rent will be highly reduced… 2nd year-10 year he will give me a 4% increase yearly. These are numbers i threw at him and he came back with a small increase from what i was asking. By year 5 of the new lease, i will be paying the same rent as the previous building.

Old Building: 800 Sq Feet
New Building: 1650 Sq feet.
 
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I moved my shop 3 miles down the street after being in the same location for 24 years. The landlord was terrible,the building was falling apart. Everyone told me i was an idiot! I had built quite a reputation in my little town as the place to go for the best pizza. One year later sales are up almost 20%,customers love the new shop as well as the employees. The best thing to do is sign your new lease as soon as possible even if you have to pay rent on 2 sites for a short time. I obtained my new lease 6 months prior to moving so i was able to let everyone know exactly where we were going to be, when we would have our grand opening, and do all of the renovations before we ever moved in. The new shop was opened 5 days after closing the old shop and we never skipped a beat!! MOVE
 
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