The Physics of a Good Store Location

Roland Piquepaille writes, "In 'Atomic Physics Predicts Successful Store Location,' LiveScience reports that a French physicist has applied methods used to study atomic interactions for another task: to 'help business owners find the best places to locate their stores.' Pablo Jensen has used his method for the city of Lyon and is now developing software with the local Chamber of Commerce to help future business owners. Read more for additional references and maps of the city of Lyon showing for example the best locations to open a bakery, according to atomic physics." Jensen says that more research is needed to know if this method would work in other cities.

Maybe a new idea, but is it better?

[janneH]

This has to be a problem similar to that of deciding where in a store to put products to optimize sales, and that must be a pretty sophisticated science by now. Do you put the sesame oil next to the other oils or the asian foods? Laundry soups near the entrance or in the back? So the question becomes - is this approach to the problem better than others that are out there? Hopefully they have already tested it against other models and shown that it does well - before subjecting some unwitting small business owner to their fancy new software.

But we already know how to do that...

[jonadab]

> help business owners find the best places to locate their stores

Um, we already know how to find the optimal location for a store. You look for where there's a McDonald's, and you locate the store right next to it. Couldn't be simpler. _How_ McD's always manages to find exactly the perfect spot, I'm not sure, but I've yet to see one suboptimally located, so plopping down next to them should be a pretty reliable way to find a really good spot.