Key Factors for Coffee Shop Location Selection? Cafe Opening Process & Considerations

When opening a coffee shop, the two most time-consuming steps are usually site selection and decoration — and they're also the two biggest drains on your budget. The longer the preparation drags on, the higher the overall cost climbs.

So before committing to open a shop, you need to be clear about three things: why you want to open it, who your main customers will be, and what style the shop will have. Only then can you hunt for a location with purpose and choose decoration materials that match.

How to Choose a Storefront

Picking the storefront is often the single biggest hurdle in the early stages. Many people, eager to get open, rush this decision — and pay for it with operational struggles later.

The location and the storefront largely determine whether your coffee shop will ever be profitable, so observe and evaluate from three angles.

Location Observation

1. Visibility from inside the store

"Look at the storefront from a customer's perspective: can it be seen clearly? It should be identifiable at a glance."

2. Nothing blocking the view of the storefront

"The usual culprits are big trees, electrical boxes, streetlights, and building pillars. These large, immovable objects block customers' sightlines and reduce passersby's attention to your storefront."

3. Choose a spot whose customers match yours, and record foot traffic at different hours

"Locate near businesses serving a similar customer base. Nearby shops' price points and products should resemble yours, so the same customers naturally flow toward your coffee shop.

Meanwhile, work out when the peak and off-peak hours fall, and who consumes at those times (gender mix, occupation mix, and so on)."

A cautionary example: one coffee shop opened in a dining district surrounded by budget Chinese restaurants and fast-food joints. With meals going for 15-30 yuan, most of those customers would never spend the same money on a cup of coffee.

Storefront Observation

1. Storefront width

"The floor area doesn't need to be huge, but the frontage must be wide enough. The wider the storefront, the more easily customers notice it; higher exposure means more people walking in."

2. Natural lighting

"Lighting determines how bright the storefront feels — and directly affects customers' willingness to step inside. Many coffee shops now use a recessed entrance design. If the lighting is poor and the interior dim, most customers simply won't come in."

Interior Observation

1. Drainage points

"Water flows from high to low, so check the drainage slope and the width of the drain pipes. Good drainage is essential for any food-service space; without it, blockages and backflow will show up sooner or later. If there's no reasonable drainage point, this storefront may not be worth considering at all."

2. Water inlet pipes

"Water inlets matter enormously! Some storefronts were never restaurants — their design never accounted for food service, and some lack restrooms — so they may have no water inlet pipes.

In that case, ask clearly whether the space can obtain the permits needed to operate as a restaurant, whether inlet pipes can be installed, and if so, where the clean water supply would come from."

3. Smoke extraction and ventilation

"Even if a coffee shop never fries anything, many also serve bread and other foods that need oven heating. The heating itself produces little smoke, but without proper extraction and ventilation the odors linger, making customers uncomfortable. So besides the entrance, you'll want sufficiently large windows."

Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Once your shop's location is settled, the next big decision is what to serve. For café staples like americanos and lattes, FrontStreet Coffee's house blends are proven performers: FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend (Brazilian Cerrado with Colombian Huila) delivers the classic espresso flavor of nut, dark chocolate, and caramel that customers know and love, while FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend — 100% arabica — offers full crema and a mellow body at a price that protects your margins.

For signature pour-over options that broaden your menu, consider entry-level single origins with broad appeal: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Guodingding (jasmine, lemon, berries), Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon (cream, peanut, cocoa), and Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling (herbal, dark chocolate, caramel) — dependable, crowd-friendly cups for a new shop's brew bar.