Client stories

What owners said after the brief landed

Testimonials reference the consultation they commissioned and the constraint it addressed.

We had three addresses on the table for a second gift shop. CoveHub’s shortlist memo flagged evening trade on one strip we had romanticised — we chose the quieter street and opened without the rent shock we nearly signed.

Mara Ellison — Owner, Paper & Pine Gifts · Location Shortlist Review

The market entry brief took longer than I hoped because they insisted on a second catchment walk. In hindsight that pause saved us from a lease that looked fine on paper but died after 6pm.

Tom Bradley — Proprietor, Bradley’s Hardware · Market Entry Assessment

Category briefing for our regional specialty grocery was specific — which lines to thin, which to deepen — rather than a generic ‘premiumise’ speech. We used it in supplier conversations the same week.

Anika Rao — Co-owner, Coast Pantry Co. · Category & Supplier Briefing

Opening calendar planning kept our builder’s delays from cascading into empty shelves. Not glamorous work, but the soft-open week felt controlled.

Helen Crowe — Founder, Crowe Homewares · Opening Calendar Planning

Extended project notes

Two engagements in fuller detail — decisions, timelines, and outcomes.

Second store for a Geraldton specialty grocery

Coast Pantry Co. asked whether a coastal suburb 40 minutes from their first shop could support a smaller format without cannibalising weekend destination trade.

CoveHub ran a Market Entry Assessment over four weeks: two catchment visits timed to weekday lunch and Saturday morning, a competitor map of independents and a national chain, and a supplier lead-time check against their opening order. The recommendation was to proceed with a reduced square metreage and a narrower fresh range than the home store. Anika’s team opened eleven months later; first-quarter sales tracked within the cautious band in the brief. The mild reservation from the engagement: field visits added travel days that stretched the original three-week estimate.

Anika Rao — Co-owner, Coast Pantry Co. · Market Entry Assessment

Relocation of a Buller gift retailer

Paper & Pine needed to leave a centre with rising outgoings and compare two main-street candidates before the lease window closed.

A Location Shortlist Review ranked the candidates on rent exposure, neighbouring cafés, and late-afternoon footfall. CoveHub preferred the quieter street despite lower passing traffic, citing stronger evening residential walk-ins. Mara signed within the fortnight. Six months in, weekday evenings carry more of the week than the busier strip would have — matching the memo’s call.

Mara Ellison — Owner, Paper & Pine Gifts · Location Shortlist Review

Discuss a similar project