CASE STUDIES

Utrecht Art Supplies

Essentia Mattress

Fantastic Sams

CHALLENGE
Fantastic Sam’s contacted Morgan McEvoy in May of 2010 in need of a market analysis for fourteen loactions throughout Southern California. A major Fantastic Sam’s franchisee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and corporate wished to understand the intricacies of certain locations for the purpose of renegotiating or abandoning current leases. They asked for their purpose and circumstances to be kept confidential for the safety of their company, but had requested detailed maps and trade area information that would be difficult to obtain without extensive research. Upon presentation, if the information fit their goals, they would retain the broker services to renegotiate beneficial leases.

STRATEGY
Morgan McEvoy understood that the amount of presentable information was limited in regards to researching the locations. Therefore, it was decided that the first thing to do is driving the surrounding markets of each Fantastic Sam’s on the list in order to understand the toll taken by recent market struggles in California. Because Mr. McEvoy understood the rental rates prior to 2009, this would help to understand how far they had fallen, where leases could get done today, and grasping the individual markets would be half the battle.

SERVICES
After driving the markets, most of which were in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, we contacted brokerage companies with listings in relevant shopping centers, the intent being to further develop an understanding of the market and the losses they had seen in recent years. The information was then collected and compiled into comprehensive booklets, separated by market, which detailed the professional opinion and analysis of our representatives. The market reports were gathered using the skills of the full service financial and marketing backgrounds.

RESULTS
Fantastic Sam’s was able to take the information obtained and analyze the findings prior to entering bankruptcy court later that month. The information presented helped Fantastic Sam’s to formulate their future business plan and understand where they stood in terms of their current financials and what it would take to get to a level of comfort and success moving forward.