Finding a Home for Our Franchise: How Martinizing Coached Us Through Our Commercial Leasing

By: Zhane Thomas

Of all the many steps that go into opening a business, including handling the financials, formalizing a business plan, and coming up with ways to reach your target audience, it’s easy to overlook one of the most obvious intricacies: picking the right place to plant your business roots. For a family like ours, which opened two physical stores within one week of each other, it took a lot of searching, planning, and vetting commercial properties. Thankfully, we had help not only from Martinizing’s corporate team but also our franchise coach, who knew how to ask all of the questions that we didn’t.

Connecting with Our Coach

If it weren’t for Keith, the franchise coach who serves our territory and shares over three decades of experience, we would never have been as effective or efficient in opening our doors in the perfect locations. Shortly after beginning our onboarding process, we were introduced to Keith, who wasted no time in physically visiting us in Central Texas, sharing other valuable insights along the way. Keith quickly broadened our perspective, arming us with the knowledge we needed to make informed business decisions on a key component of success.

Keith, with the help of the Martinizing corporate team, shared key insights about our territory. This included the spending behavior of our target demographic and the many households we could tap into. Most importantly, he knew what to look for when evaluating spaces for our business.

Finding a Property

Keith and the corporate team didn’t just give us a list of zip codes to find a commercial property; instead, he physically accompanied us to vet realtors and the properties they showed us. He knew every nuance that mattered, how much space we needed for our exact business model (including a plant and satellite from the get-go), and what questions we didn’t know to ask otherwise given the specifics of garment care (all of which were brand-new to us). Our collaborative vetting process didn’t end with Keith either. We had weekly high-touch conversations with the rest of the Martinizing team, all of which helped our search on properties we were considering.

When we finally decided on a space to start our family business, Keith and the rest of the Martinizing team were instrumental in working out the finer details as we reviewed hundreds of pages of lease documents. The team also helped us with a few general contractors who they knew were capable of achieving what we needed logistically, and then they’d attend weekly meetings with the general contractor and the rest of our internal team to architect what needed to go where – from the location of all the machinery to maximize efficiency to where the front welcome counters should be placed.

The Complexities of Commercial

Despite how much hands-on help Keith and the rest of the brand were able to provide, there are nearly always some challenges when it comes to leasing a commercial space. Although every situation is unique across the country, there are usually common themes and similar pain points, especially when dealing with landlords. Some landlords refuse to lease to dry cleaners, some refuse to lease to franchises, and some will outright refuse the accommodations you need to make your business tick. In our case, the reputation of the Martinizing brand and the team’s assistance were instrumental, as our landlord for the plant location was less than enthusiastic about renting to a dry cleaner.

Additionally, leasing commercial property requires a significant personal investment. If your business fails, you’re still almost always on the hook for covering the cost of your lease out of your own pocket (a personal guarantee). Martinizing was there to discuss all those nuances and help us be as comfortable and aware as possible as we entered unfamiliar territory.

Leasing with a Franchise is a Team Effort

With Martinizing, you won’t be alone. We remain very grateful for Keith and his expertise and willingness to guide us along the way, including physically reviewing properties we were considering. The same goes for the rest of the Martinizing team, who helped us through every detail – from the very beginning of property identification to being present for our soft opening – and everything in between.

Of course, there will still be some discovery learning – that’ll always be the case with finding a place that’s right for your store – but Martinizing didn’t just hand us a checklist; they gave us a team of invested, knowledgeable supporters.