Trends & Insights
Perspectives on AI, site selection, and the future of retail real estate.
How Retail Market Research Drives Business Growth in H2 2026
In the second half of 2026, growth belongs to the brands that research before they expand — turning pricing, analytics, and shopper insight into the right markets and the right stores.
5 Ways Location Intelligence Transforms Retail
For a growing brand, location intelligence is the difference between picking your next location on instinct and picking it on evidence. Here are the five places it changes the game.
The Future of Retail Site Selection: Trends to Watch in H2 2026
AI, shifting consumer behavior, and a data-first approach are rebuilding how the best brands decide where to open next — and how to make site decisions you can actually defend.
Cap Rates and the Real Estate Behind Your Growth
What cap rates are, where the 2026 trends stand, and how they shape every real estate decision behind a brick-and-mortar retail or restaurant footprint — from the rent on your next location to the value of the real estate you already own.
3 Mistakes Retailers Make With Mobile Data (Part 1)
Over the past 5 years, using mobile data for retail site selection has become table stakes. The problem is that many retailers today are using this data incorrectly which can lead to multi-million dollar mistakes. At Locate, we have implemented a successful mobile-data driven site selection strategy for over 100 retail brands, and we want [...]
Which Whole Foods Market in Texas Do You Think Generates the Most Revenue?
Understanding future store performance is critical to opening a successful location. Take a look at these three Whole Foods Market locations. Which one do you think generates the most revenue? Location 1: Highland Park, Dallas – 4100 Lomo Alto Dr Dallas, TX 75219 Location 2: Downtown Austin, TX – 525 N Lamar Blvd Austin, TX [...]
Visit us at ICSC Conference – May 22 – 24, 2022 – Las Vegas
ICSC Conference – May 22 – 24, 2022 – Las Vegas We are excited to show you how the first tech-enabled brokerage in the retail real estate industry combines unparalleled artificial intelligence with broker expertise for the most accurate site selection possible. Meet our Data Science & A.I. Engineers Learn how to access and use [...]
Customer Spotlight: CBD Kratom
CBD Retailer Has Confidence that New Locations Will Be a Success with Locate’s Tech "Almost all the locations we opened through Locate were already top-performing in CBD Kratom. Locate will show you how to find a better location than one you currently have and how to duplicate your successful stores. It definitely works." Who Is [...]
Customer Spotlight: Fit Body Bootcamp
Fitness Retailer Sets Owners Up for Success by Expanding Locations with Locate “Their data is key. If you have an existing business and you want to know what's working for you to expand, Locate is definitely an important tool. It shows that we're doing due diligence on our end, not just to sell a territory, [...]
Customer Spotlight: Zoup! Eatery
Restaurant Franchisor Zoup! Eatery Redefines its Site Selection Process by Leveraging AI with Locate “Locate helped us redefine what to look for in locations. They have cell phone data that shows where cell phone traffic goes at lunch, on the weekends, and at dinner time. It’s been surprising. Some locations where you think you won't [...]
Customer Spotlight: Wingers
Wingers Leverages Customer Data with Locate to Better Cater to its Guests and Grow into the Right Locations “I was extremely impressed by Locate's technological platform. They built a model for us that really can identify key criteria as we look for new sites and franchisees and continue to grow. This was the perfect real [...]
How to Know Where NOT to Lease Retail Real Estate
Your Monthly Lease Update
Gen Z Shopping Trends All Retailers Should Know About
Welcome Julie Harris to Team Locate
We’re excited to welcome a new Director of Real Estate to the team, Julie Harris.
Site Forecasting in the Era of AI
Three Competing Fitness Retailers, Three Vastly Different Customer Insights
Unleash the Power of Mobile Data in Your Site Selection
Customer Profiles: Analyzing Equinox Fitness Customers in Austin, Texas
Anatomy of Whole Foods Market Customers in Austin, Texas
Four Site Selection Habits To Stop ASAP in 2021
How COVID-19 Customer Migrations Impact Whole Foods Market Nationwide
Customer Migration and the Pandemic: A Case Study on Starbucks in Austin, Texas
Misconceptions People Have About Location Data
Recently, I’ve seen many of my contemporaries and leading firms posting about location data, cell phone data and AI modeling. A few quotes from actual posts: “Mobile data is great but seeing a hotspot next to a target isn't telling me anything, of course it's attracting customers. I want to know if they’re the customers [...]
Empower Site Selection with the Right Data: Jimmy John’s Case in Point
The Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Customers: A Case Study on Starbucks
How To Calculate “Trade Area” in 2021
How to Navigate Post-Covid Site Selection
How to Navigate Post-Covid Site Selection In 2020, many retailers were forced to close their doors, shut down operations, and halt all plans for expansion. A year later, they are entering 2021 with the greatest uncertainty they’ve faced in decades. With site selection being one of the most essential strategic decisions for growing retailers, they [...]
A New Brand Identity for Locate
Change In Brand Identity and Reinstatement of Company Vision We’re proud to announce today a change in our brand identity and reinstatement of our company vision. We started Locate in 2014 with the mission of making retail real estate data-driven. To achieve this, we developed site selection location-based insights and predictive intelligence technology that was [...]
Lease Signing with Costa Oil- San Antonio, TX
We're happy to share today one of our recent lease signings with Costa Oil! Costa Oil is a hassle-free, 10-minute oil change service. We're thrilled to be a part of Costa Oil's expansion efforts and are looking forward to a new store opening soon in San Antonio, TX! Thank you to Locate broker, Jorden Jespersen, [...]
Lease Signing with Pure Green- Phoenix, AZ
We're happy to share today one of our recent lease signings with Pure Green! Check our current locations here. We're thrilled to be a part of Pure Green's expansion efforts and are looking forward to a new store opening soon in at the Arcadia Town Center in Phoenix, AZ! Thank you to Locate broker, Braden [...]
Lease Signing with Rosati's Pizza- Apex, NC
We’re happy to share today one of our recent lease signings with Rosati's Pizza! Rosati's Pizza is an Italian chain eatery featuring Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, plus pasta & sandwiches. We’re thrilled to be a part of Rosati Pizza's expansion efforts and are looking forward to a new store opening very soon in Apex, NC. Thank [...]
Lease Signing with Hunter Douglas— Des Moines, Iowa
We’re happy to share today one of our recent lease signings with Hunter Douglas! Hunter Douglas is a leading manufacturer of window coverings as well as a major manufacturer of architectural products. Check out current locations here. We’re thrilled to be a part of Hunter Douglas' expansion efforts and are looking forward to a new [...]
Lease Signing with Ellie Mental Health— Crestline, Greenwood Village, Colorado
We’re happy to share today one of our recent lease signings with Ellie Mental Health! Ellie provides mental health services for all ages, offering individual therapy, couples counseling, and family therapy, psychiatric medication management, and community-based mental health services. Check out current locations here. We’re thrilled to be a part of Ellie Mental Health's expansion [...]
Lease Signing with Rita’s Italian Ice – Brittany Square, Peoria, Arizona
https://www.locate.ai/lease-ritas-italian-ice-brittany-square-peoria-arizona/
Retail Tracker Weekly Update: April 28, 2020
Stock-piling or just… shopping? For the first time in nearly 50 days, Retail Tracker shows an increase in retail traffic. While some states deliberate the timing and scope of their re-openings, it looks like consumers and employees are slowly returning to retail. Directionally, this is very interesting, but the key question is whether or not the return [...]
LocateAI Services
LocateAI has been a leader in retail real estate analytics for over a half-decade — well before “Artificial Intelligence” became a sales buzzword — and uses machine-learning algorithms and 175,000 variables at the census-block level to build predictive analytics and market strategy maps for growing retailers. LocateAI Services is the world’s first A.I.-powered retail real estate brokerage [...]
Retail Recap, Ep. 1: Rich Hollander
In this week’s Retail Recap, I caught up with Rich Hollander to get his take on the state of retail under shelter-in-place. If you don’t already know, Rich has an impressive resume as a retail operator: Vice President at Radio Shack / Incredible Universe President at Cash America President at Rent-a-tire In addition, he spent time as a [...]
Suspension of LocateAI Monthly Billing
In light of the unexpected impact that COVID-19 has had on retail sales, LocateAI suspended monthly fees for all retail clients, including all SaaS subscriptions and rebatable fees, for ninety (90) days effective March 31st, 2020. Though we, like others in the retail industry, are suffering material losses from the downturn, we know that helping our retailers keep [...]
Introducing Retail Tracker
In light of COVID-19’s unbelievable and global impact on lives and businesses, we repurposed our tools to help our industry make decisions in the face of new and challenging market conditions. LocateAI’s Retail Tracker monitors retail traffic at 3 million points of interest, spanning brands, industries, and geographies, across the United States. The primary purpose of the [...]
Your Monthly Lease Update
A Selection of New Leases Our brokers closed Q1 with a number of exciting new leases. Here are the highlights: Costa Oil signed a lease at the Perry Plaza in Painesville, OH. Tenant represented by Jorden Jespersen. Hunter Douglas signed a lease in Colorado Springs, CO. Tenant represented by Braden Langenfeld. ISI Elite Training signed [...]
Who Wins in a Recession?
The coronavirus effect is in full swing. The Dow Jones had its biggest single day point drop ever yesterday, breaking this record for the fourth time in less than a week. Retailers like Apple and Nike are temporarily closing their doors. Every major sports league is on hold. And to top it all off, no one has toilet paper. At this point, every business [...]
Where are my customers spending time during the day?
How to use the LocateAI platform as a retailer to figure out the best areas within a market to source real estate based on customer behavior Find high potential areas within a market Toggle on any data layer (e.g. customer daytime locations) and focus in on the high density areas/neighborhoods to find potential sites. Other [...]
Retail executives’ response to COVID-19
Covid-19 is creating absolute hysteria in many of our communities. But what level of impact will it have on the retail real estate industry? It’s been difficult cutting through the noise and media, so we turned to dozens of execs and CEOs in the retail industry to get firsthand data on how they’re responding. Here are 3 [...]
