Why Relocating to a Small Town Centre Can Be A Smart Business Move

Some small business leaders believe a city location is essential to success. While it definitely offers advantages, there are actually a number of surprising benefits to relocating to a smaller town centre, especially financial benefits. Here are just a few of them:

Lower rents

The most obvious advantage to locating your office out of the city, having a central office location comes with the expectation that you will be paying a premium. For example, if you’re paying by desk for office space in central London, you can expect to pay around £1,000 per desk, whereas in the suburbs you might only pay £200. It’s a big difference.

More for your money

Reduced rental costs mean you’ll be able to find bigger, better premises for your business. If you’re leasing commercial property directly from a landlord, you are more likely to find somewhere with the possibility of expansion in a smaller town than you are in a big city, where space is already limited.

Supportive local business networks

Many small towns benefit from a strong sense of community, where businesses work in collaboration to support one another. Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, compares the mentality to “a school of little fish [that] team up and swim as one big fish to avoid being eaten”. It’s not uncommon for small towns to have referral systems in place, with businesses referring customers to other local companies.

Reduced competition

A city location can be a competitive environment, especially if you’re a customer-facing business. However, if you’re situated in a smaller town, you’re likely to have far fewer competitors. This immediately gives your company an advantage, particularly if the area has particular need for the products or services that you offer.

Marketing costs

Cities offer high-circulation publications to advertise in, but you will have to pay a significant amount to feature in them. In smaller town centres, local publications reach fewer people but arguably have more receptive audiences, and the saved expense allows you to focus more cost on digital advertising. That will also cost you a fraction of the price.

Commuting

Commuting prices vary considerably from location to location – but a city location can add thousands to your annual expenditure, especially if you send staff out to clients for meetings. When your business is situated in a small town, and particularly if you have clients locally, it’s more likely you’ll be able to keep commuting costs down.