If anyone is in the retail business, I'm curious what size facility the more established retailers look at when evaluating locations (e.g. 5,000 sq ft, 1,000 sq. ft.). There have to be industry norms to allow for effective display of merchandise (retail), kitchen and seating (restaurants), etc. Does anyone have any insight in this area?
Library might have what you're looking for in the resource section. Almost every industry one could imagine has stats for things such as ave. square footage and hi/low, ave. #employees & salaries, inventory turns, standard/average/high/low margins, all sorts of ratios both financial and inventory, and lots lots more.
EDIT: That data will be many years old. Don't trust it completely. They might roll up hardware stores, for example, into one lump (Soukup's size through Home Depot). Trust more your noggin than the figures, but it will be a start.
