The growing challenge for great medical centre locations

Some of the most important features when building a new medical clinic are tried and true requirements for almost any retail business. I emphasize here that a medical clinic is a business and has similar concerns to many other retail businesses in order to be profitable. The following are essential:1. Proximity to the clinic’s target market and a clear understanding of the clinic’s target customer (patient), who are they and what do you know about them? 2. Excellent exposure or visibility to the customer or patient base. Can your target market see your sign every day when they are driving by on their way to and from work?3. A location that is convenient to the clinics' patient base, for example, locating in a grocery anchored retail plaza that has great access and egress, easy, free parking, and convenient co-tenancies with other retail uses ie. banks, post office, gas station, etc.Restrictive covenantsExisting restrictive covenants, by large pharmacy chains, increasingly preclude a medical centre from having its own dispensary. The pharmacy dispensary is what drives the revenue in most medical clinics. This downward pressure on medical centres, make it increasingly difficult to acquire great locations at affordable rents, for medical centres to take advantage of this revenue generating opportunity.Parking The Importance of parking has not gone away. Access to a free and easy parking field can often be an important decision-making factor when a patient is choosing which medical centre to attend. The same goes for the medical centre staff. Imagine a young mother with small children or an infant trying to unload where there is traffic wizzing by at full speed, or an elderly patient trying to navigate exiting a car in the midst of moving vehicles. Some city planners have forgotten this and allow developers to build commercial space (under condo towers for example) that have very little accessible parking for medical centre patients or their staff.There are many other important factors to be considered when choosing a medical centre location that will be successful for many years to come.Kelly Laughton is with Top Cats Commercial Realty and also the author of a book on site selection called “Slaying the Location Dragan.” You can reach her at Kelly@TopCats.ca. Laughton regularly works with MedPros and they can be reached naz@medpros.ca.

The growing challenge for great medical centre locations

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