- 5/5 Stars rating on Google
Tenant-side · Retail leasing · New Zealand
Your premises should pull customers in, not quietly eat your margin. We make sure they do both.
We act for retail tenants across New Zealand, never for landlords. From finding the site to negotiating the lease, managing it, and exiting when the time comes, we make sure your property decisions support the business instead of draining it.
Securing Retail Sites And Leases For Tenants Across NZ
Single Stores, Shopping Centres And National Rollouts
We Act For You, Never The Landlord Or Their Agent
THE PROBLEM
For most retailers, property is the second-largest cost in the business and one of the longest commitments you'll ever sign. Yet the decision is often made under pressure, against a deadline, with whatever information the landlord's agent chose to share. The site looks right, the rent looks fine, and the real cost only shows up later.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Take a store on $90,000 rent that looked sharp on paper. Add an OPEX structure no one questioned and the real occupancy cost lands closer to $126,000 a year. On a retail margin, that gap can be the difference between a shop that funds your growth and one that quietly bleeds it. Over a six-year term, it's more than $200,000 you never planned to spend.
Then there's the cost that never reaches an invoice. A location your customers don't pass. A lease you can't get out of when the store stops working. A make-good bill waiting at the end. In retail, the wrong premises caps what the business can earn for years.
"Marcus saved me time and money, providing practical advice, market insight, as well as lease negotiating expertise. He levelled the playing field."
Founder, Flo & Frannkie
YOUR GUIDE
You sign a retail lease a handful of times in the life of your business. The landlords and their agents do it every day, for a living, on the other side of the table. That experience gap is exactly why so many good retailers end up in the wrong site on the wrong terms.
I've spent 20 years finding sites and negotiating leases for retail tenants across New Zealand, from single high-street stores to shopping-centre sites and national rollouts. I know what good foot traffic actually looks like, how to read an OPEX schedule, and where the room to move sits in a deal. I act for tenants only. Never landlords.
20 years tenant-side
Tenant-side only
High street, mall & rollouts
Single stores to national networks
OUR APPROACH
A clear process that turns a high-stakes retail decision into a confident one, whether you're opening your first store, expanding, or relocating.
We start with your brand, target customer, catchment and trading numbers, and build a clear retail premises brief. That brief drives every decision after it.
We scan on-market, off-market and pre-listing sites, assess foot traffic, visibility and real occupancy cost, and hand you a ranked shortlist of sites that actually fit.
We negotiate rent, incentives, fitout contributions, reviews and exit rights, so the lease you sign protects your margin and keeps your options open.
How We Help Retailers
Most retailers only think about property at the start. But money is won and lost at every stage of the lease. We're with you across all six.
Identify and secure sites aligned with your brand, catchment and foot-traffic needs, on and off-market.
Find premises →
Negotiate rent, incentives, fitout contributions and terms that reduce cost and protect long-term viability.
Negotiate lease →
Coordinate design, approvals and fitout to open on time and avoid cost overruns and delays.
Design & fitout →
Rent reviews, renewals, OPEX reconciliations, dispute resolution and critical-date tracking, handled for you.
Lease management →
Restructure leases when rent or terms no longer match how the store is actually trading.
Lease restructuring →
Plan and manage a retail exit or relocation with minimal disruption and a clean break from the lease.
Exit & relocation →
You choose a site that fits your brand, your customer and your numbers
You know the real occupancy cost before you sign, not after
You hold flexibility to grow, restructure or exit as trading changes
Proof
Real retailers, real sites, real numbers. Each one started where you are now: needing the right premises, on the right terms.
Off-market sites across the South Island, sourced and secured on more competitive terms than competitors, to extend a retail fuel network built over 70 years.
Shopping centre negotiation at a premium NZ mall. Secured a fitout contribution, lower accommodation costs, a fixed-percentage rent review, a lower bank guarantee and waived personal guarantees.
See all retail case studies →
Who This Is For
Whether you run a single store, a growing chain, or a franchise network, the leasing problem is the same: too many variables, too little time, and a landlord's agent on the other side. Property isn't your core business, but it's one of your biggest costs and one of your longest commitments.
We work with retailers across formats and stages, from a first high-street store to shopping-centre sites and multi-site rollouts. If you're opening, renewing, relocating, or just suspect you're paying too much, this is built for you.
The best time to bring us in is early, before you've committed to a site and while the whole market is still open to you.
Common questions
No. Agents are paid by landlords to fill their buildings, so the higher the rent, the better they've done their job. We're paid by you, the retailer. We never act for landlords and never take a leasing fee from them, so our only job is the site and the deal that's right for your business.
Yes. We negotiate both. Shopping-centre leases come with their own pressures, longer documents, promotional levies, and tighter landlord control, so having someone tenant-side who knows how they work matters even more.
Yes, and this is often the best moment to bring us in. Before you commit, we assess whether the site is right for your catchment and what it will really cost over the term, while there's still room to move on rent, incentives and terms.
Yes. A lot of our retail work is multi-site, sourcing and negotiating across a network so every site stacks up for the operator or franchisor with consistent terms and concessions across the rollout.
It depends on the scope, from a single site search or lease negotiation through to ongoing support across a portfolio. We'll be clear about it on the first call, before you commit to anything.
Free Download
Download the checklist I run before commencing any lease negotiation. The same lens that catches the costs and risks that never show up on a listing or in a landlord's heads of agreement.Written for retailers.
contact us
Tell me what your business needs from its next site. I'll tell you what's out there, on-market and off, what each option will really cost, and where the room to negotiate sits. No obligation.
