When choosing a business location, most franchisors think about drive times, demographics, and competition. But there’s another factor that often determines whether a site thrives or struggles: anchor tenants.
Think about it. Why does a coffee shop near Target always seem to have a line out the door? Why do gyms draw smoothie shops, or why do dry cleaners cluster around grocery stores?
It’s because of the hidden pull of anchor tenants — the big-name businesses that attract a steady flow of customers. Understanding this dynamic (and visualizing it with modern mapping tools) can give franchisors a serious advantage in territory planning.
Let’s break it down. 👇
The term anchor tenant comes from the shopping mall world. Traditionally, these were the big-box retailers — Macy’s, Walmart, Nordstrom — that attracted shoppers to a mall. Smaller stores benefited from being near the anchor because the customer was already there.
Today, the concept has expanded. An anchor tenant can be:
A grocery store (Wegmans, Whole Foods, Kroger, Costco) 🛒
A big-box retailer (Target, Walmart, Home Depot) 🛍️
A fitness center (Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, Orangetheory) 💪
A medical hub (urgent care, large dental practice, hospital) 🏥
Even popular quick-service restaurants that drive repeat visits 🍔
The point? Anchors attract consistent foot traffic — and that traffic often spills over into nearby businesses.
Consumers love convenience. If they can get multiple errands done in one trip, they will. Anchors create a gravitational pull that other businesses can orbit around.
👉 Picture this:
Someone heads to the gym 🏋️ → they’re more likely to grab a smoothie afterward.
A family shops at Costco 🛒 → dinner at a nearby casual restaurant is an easy add-on.
A patient visits a medical clinic 🏥 → picking up a prescription or coffee afterward feels natural.
This isn’t just about volume — it’s about synergy. Customers rationalize, “While I’m already here…” That “add-on” mindset drives sales for nearby businesses.
Anchor tenants shape customer behavior across industries. Here are a few clear examples:
Restaurants near Costco/Sam’s Club → Shoppers often spend an hour (or more) loading carts. Afterward, dining out feels like a reward.
Juice bars near gyms → Members who work out 3–5x per week create consistent repeat business.
Pharmacies near urgent care centers → A natural pairing for patients leaving with prescriptions.
Nail salons, dry cleaners, and cell phone stores near grocery chains → Customers can “bundle” errands in one trip.
Each of these shows the halo effect of anchors: a steady stream of motivated customers who are primed to spend.
While anchors can supercharge traffic, they’re not foolproof. There are risks franchisors should weigh:
If an anchor leaves, traffic plummets → Think of malls that lost Sears, JCPenney or another major department store. A ghost town effect follows.
Too much competition nearby → Anchors can create traffic, but if there are already 5 coffee shops circling Target, the pie may be sliced too thin.
Seasonal anchors → Universities, stadiums, or pop-up retailers can cause huge swings in traffic, making revenue unpredictable.
The key takeaway? Anchors amplify opportunity — but they can’t guarantee success on their own.
Not all anchors are created equal. A great franchisor looks at fit, not just volume.
Ask yourself:
Does my target customer overlap with the anchor’s customer base?
Does the anchor drive repeat visits?
Is there lifestyle synergy?
A family-oriented anchor like Target supports childcare services, tutoring centers, or kid-friendly restaurants.
A medical anchor supports pharmacies, health food shops, and fitness concepts.
The best anchors align with your business model and your customer profile.
In the past, identifying strong anchor tenants was guesswork. Franchisors might drive around town, take notes, and make judgment calls. But today, tools like Zors make the process smarter, faster, and far more accurate.
Here’s how Zors helps:
Zors allows you to quickly scan a trade area and see what businesses already exist nearby. Want to know if your target site is close to gyms, grocery stores, or medical clinics? Just run a POI search by category or business name.
Instead of relying on incomplete or outdated data, the Zors franchise intelligence platform taps into Foursquare’s industry-leading database of business locations worldwide. This means you see real, verified points of interest.
Here’s the game-changer. Not all gyms or grocery stores perform equally. Foursquare’s popularity score helps see how often people may actually visit those locations.
👉 Example: Two gyms exist within a 10-minute drive. Both look good on paper. But Foursquare shows one gym has a far higher popularity score — meaning more members, more visits, and more spillover traffic. That’s probably the smarter anchor to bet on.
With these insights, franchisors can choose sites with anchors that truly pull traffic, instead of just appearing busy.
Drive-time or radius mapping tells you how far customers are likely to travel. Census tracts tell you who those customers are. But anchor analysis tells you why they’re already coming to the area.
That’s the complete picture:
Drive times 🚗 → How far people will go.
Census data 🏘️ → Who those people are.
Anchor tenants 🏬 → Why they’re already nearby.
By combining these data layers in Zors, franchisors build territories that are realistic, competitive, and set up for long-term success.
Anchor tenants are the silent growth engines of retail and service businesses. They bring people in, set customer patterns, and create opportunities for surrounding businesses to thrive.
For franchisors, the lesson is clear: don’t just look at maps—look at movement. Who’s already bringing people to your trade area, and how can your brand tap into that flow?
With Zors’ POI radius search powered by Foursquare and the popularity score that separates busy from underperforming anchors, you can make smarter, data-driven site selections.
Because in franchising, success isn’t just about where you are — it’s about who you’re next to. 👣
👉 Schedule a free personalized video demo today or signup for a free trial!
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