"Location, location, location" One of the most important decisions 
a retailer makes is where to put their store. Location influences where customer's shop and the type of customers who shop there. A competitive advantage is also created because competitors can not copy the location, they must locate their store at the next best location.
Wal-Mart's logo makes the store recognizable from every street corner and intersection. The Wal-Mart this post is about is in Raleigh, NC and located on New Bern Avenue.
Basic and traditional types of retail locations include freestanding, city/town business districts and shopping centers. This Wal-Mart is uses the freestanding location type. "Freestanding" means the store is isolated from other retailers (physically not connected) and can be found near other freestanding retailers or shopping centers. Some advantages and disadvantages are highlighted below and can also be seen in the Google Maps screenshot.
Advantages
- Parking will never be a problem here, the parking lot is huge! Other retailers have parking lots nearby if customers ever needed a place to park, but they probably won't run out of parking spaces anytime soon.
- Pedestrian traffic is high in this area. The intersection can lead to Raleigh (turn right), Knightdale (turn left) and even Garner (go straight).
- Convenience. This is the closest Wal-Mart for people in eastern Raleigh and a 10-15 minute drive away from many neighborhoods. A Starbucks with a drive-thru and a gas station are nearby and city buses are also welcome.
- Few restrictions. This is a 24 hours Wal-Mart.
Disadvantages- Pedestrian traffic. High traffic means potential customers drive by every day. But the street is also a highway...with street lights every 5 minutes. Pedestrians, cars, city buses and trucks are a lot for someone to handle. Rush hour, weekends and evenings (trucks) sometimes make the drive to Wal-Mart a bigger headache than it should be.
Source(s): Google Maps, Wal-Mart [logo]