BrandPartners and Store in a Box Just Featured in The Wall Street Journal

Today, Store in a Box was featured in The Wall Street Journal, in an article discussing small business expansion in the shaky economy. Despite the economic climate where many small businesses are experiencing slowed development and a decline in customers, many other businesses have continued to grow and have found an upside; cheaper rent. Store in a Box works with franchise concepts and small businesses around the country. A portion of the article can be read below and you can find a link to the entire story below as well.

Location, Location and More Location
With vacancy rates up and rents down, it's a great time to grab extra space if you need it
By Raymund Flandez

For some small-business owners, the terrible economy holds an unexpected silver lining: It's a lot easier to get more space.

As hosts of businesses close their doors, vacancy rates are soaring and rents are plummeting. So, small companies that are still on their feet—and looking to expand—suddenly have lots of leverage with landlords. And they're making the most of the chance, snaring prime locations and larger spaces, often at a fraction of the regular asking price.

Crisis and Opportunity

In early December, for instance, Sindi Major-Martinez, president and chief executive of Sindel Technologies LLC, moved her IT-services firm to a new location in Phoenix. At the new building, she's paying $21 a square foot for 4,400 square feet—versus $23 per square foot for 3,000 square feet in her previous lease. It's an even better deal considering that the new location was valued at $29.50 a square foot recently, and the current rent also covers utilities and cleaners.

"It really emphasizes that there are good things out there, even though things are really bad," says Ms. Major-Martinez, who estimates she'll save about $60,000 in the first year.

For an idea of the kinds of potential deals out there, consider this: Commercial rents were down 36% in October from a year earlier and were 44% below the peak in October 2007, according to Moody's Investors Service Inc. In addition, the national office market's vacancy rate is expected to rise as high as 19% by the end of 2010, the highest on record since Grubb & Ellis Co. began tracking the national market in 1986.

"The one thing that happens in this economy is that the weak players get pushed out," says Bruce Olans, chief executive of Store in a Box Inc., a Rochester, N.H., company owned by BrandPartners Group Inc. that assists small businesses and franchisees with the build-out process, including lease negotiation. "It's kind of survival of the fittest. A lot of the ones that were hanging on for years are basically going out of business. It's opening up new opportunities."

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