At the moment, there are a lot of stores that are closing but I think over the next few months, there will be a void in the market and many small stores will open to offer the products and services which were once offered by some of the large stores going under.
A lot of people are getting laid off from companies and if they have worked in that company for a long time, they might get a reasonable size severance package. If there are no jobs out there, some of those unemployed people may look at the downturn as an opportunity to open a store.
I think that this will take place when a former employee believes that we are at or near the bottom of the recession. Based on predictions in the paper, this could be in 6 to 9 months’ time. I believe that people will start opening stores when they believe the economy will not get any worse. They may be able to get a bargain on the rent since there will be a lot of vacancies. Their costs will be lower than if they opened a new store today.
They may be able to rent the store without a long-term commitment, therefore, the costs of starting a new store will be low, and overhead will be low therefore they will have a better chance of success if they picked the right type of store to open.