For entrepreneurs searching for retail franchise opportunities, the options can be overwhelming. A retail store franchise is a business that utilizes a conventional brick and mortar store front model to engage with customers when buying and selling goods or services.

Retail franchises can technically encompass a large umbrella of brands and products since most businesses are designed to provide goods and services in exchange for payment. However, the benefit of using a franchise model far exceeds an independent sole proprietorship opportunity. The franchise is designed to give the franchisee advantages.

Franchisees have access to a recognizable brand name, trademarks and logo. When consumers are looking for a product or service, they are likely to deal with a brand they are familiar with. Plus, the franchisor will typically provide marketing assistance to help establish your location. The franchisor takes care of the national advertising, and establishes guidelines for your local promotion.

The franchise gives owners an edge against other retail competition with extensive training, quicker ramp-up and on-going support.

Most of us tend to initially consider a retail franchise as clothing stores, books and music stores, gift shops, florists, health and personal care, electronics and appliances, furnishings. But retail franchising may include food service providers like caterers, convenience stores, bakeries and gas stations.

Retail franchise opportunities are lucrative as the franchise industry accounts for 40% of all retail sales in the United States. According to Top Franchise, retail products and services franchises bring in nearly $30 billion annually and retail food franchises contribute more than $36 billion.

A retail store franchise is a great opportunity to provide quality goods and services locally, in your community with an attractive storefront.  There are countless numbers of stores that offer franchise opportunities but many businesses stand out because of recent trends propelling their popularity. Among the top ten retail franchises you may find brand names like KFC, Circle K, Dairy Queen, The UPS Store, and Miracle Ear, just to name a few.

Three Retail Franchise Opportunities

Or you may choose to open a retail franchise based on industry trends. For example, the health and wellness industry is experiencing growth since the start of the pandemic, as more Americans are trying to live longer, healthier lives.

Another sector seeing growth since the start of the pandemic were hobby concepts – businesses that sell specific products or services that foster a growing passion of both the business owner and the customer base.

Lastly, animal lovers are a strong and growing market. Investing in any realm of the pet or animal industry can create great earning potential. If you are looking for a traditional retail franchise opportunity in the animal industry, there are pet food stores, pet grooming, boarding and doggie daycare options to consider. Of course, pets include not only dogs, but cats, fish, hamsters, gerbils, and birds to name a few.

Wild Birds Unlimited Retail Franchise

There is one retail franchise opportunity that allows you the chance to enjoy business ownership while serving your community in a growing industry, which encompasses parts of each of those retail concepts. That’s Wild Birds Unlimited. There are many advantages to becoming a franchisee. At Wild Birds Unlimited we carved a niche, fulfilling a need for hobby enthusiasts who want to feed or enjoy wild birds. It’s advantageous that there is little competition in this sector which creates demand for our goods and services.Wild Birds Unlimited is an outdoor wildlife franchise dedicated to meeting the growing consumer wildlife hobbyist demand. We’ve grown this business for 40 years to more than 350 stores that are strategically located within their communities ̶ serving as a true neighborhood resource.

We don’t just sell products like bird houses and feeders at our brick and mortar stores and through ecommerce, but Wild Birds Unlimited franchise owners provide a great service to their customers by giving expert knowledge about the bird feeding hobby. We know that expert advice is important to our customers that’s why we train every Wild Birds Unlimited franchisee how to help customers transform their yards into a bird feeding habitat that brings great enjoyment and provides a great ecosystem for the birds themselves.

The wild bird feeding industry is quite lucrative with $7.6 billion spent annually on bird feeding and bird watching. So not only is this a great business venture from the consumer demand standpoint, but as a franchise, Wild Birds Unlimited has been awarded the number one retail franchise honors for many years.

If you are interested in learning more, let’s get started on your journey to join our flock.