This may seem like a lease detail that is extremely obvious - of course, a tenant wants great signage.

Here are five points to remember concerning signage:

1.   Did you know that in most communities the size of the sign you are allowed to install is based upon the linear frontage length of your storefront? As an example, if you lease an 1800 sq ft space, the sign you can install on a 30’ x 60’ square foot space is 50% larger (30 feet) than a 20’ x 90’ square foot space (20 feet) since the store frontage is 50% wider.

2.   Please be aware of the color of the brick walls and fascia of the shopping center building. Again, it sounds so obvious. When touring prospective shopping center locations, notice how many tenants with a red logo sign for their brand may have built on a red brick building. Now, during the day their sign is barely visible, and yet tenants often wonder why their customer traffic is so light.  

3.   Trees will block your signage from being visible to the customer traffic driving by. If there is a row of leafy trees in front of your potential location, consider a different center or another acceptable location within that center that may have an unobtrusive landscape treatment adjacent to your storefront.  

4.   When you are evaluating a particular shopping center, please look at the sign colors for all of the other tenants. Are they all the same? Blue and White? Green and White? Red and White? If so, that shopping center has a master signage plan in place. So, if you select that center for your new location, your signage will also be limited to that same color scheme. Those colors may be in conflict with the colors required by your brand, so make sure to check the signage requirements before signing that lease.  

5.   Once you have advanced to the LOI stage, your team should contact a sign manufacturing company to confirm exactly what the zoning authority will allow to be installed. I have seen too many tenants secure the landlord’s approval to install any type or color sign that the tenant wants, only to then have the zoning authority reject the colors, size, location etc. Also, approvable window displays can often be confirmed by the signage company.