Small Business Owners Need to (Re)Act Cautiously

By Laura Calugar

Thriving in a bustling real estate market as a small business owner can be a genuine challenge. Ramy Eidi is the founder & CEO of Eidi Properties, a commercial real estate agency in Toledo, Ohio, that owns, operates and manages shopping centers. Eidi believes there is potential for growth in the retail market in his area, though he believes big box retailers need to reinvent themselves in order to survive, while small-unit retailers have the chance to experience steady growth. Carefulness should be a fundamental trait of any businessman.

A Focus on Retail

Ramy Eidi, CEO & Founder of Eidi Properties

Eidi has been a player in the real estate industry for more than two decades. He first discovered the real estate business by working with his father, also an entrepreneur. While attending the University of Toledo, he decided to focus his energy on retail because he felt he could build wealth for future generations.

“I chose retail early on because I had a background and grew up in the industry with my father being a restaurateur, promoting different retail type businesses. I had an understanding of retail and I felt that it would be a good road to take. Looking back, I have no regrets,” said Eidi. 

Nowadays, Eidi Properties delivers real estate services in leasing, acquisitions and property management. Until now, the company’s specialists have traded more than 90 shopping centers. Currently, Eidi Properties owns 32 retail assets across Ohio and Michigan, with approximately $120 million in holdings. Recently, Eidi Properties acquired Corners at the Mall Plaza, a 152,000-square-foot retail shopping center in Dayton, Ohio. The company employs more than 10 people and concentrates on acquiring valuable retail assets in key markets.

How to Thrive in a Competitive Business

Being honest with clients and cultivating a strong relationship with them has kept Eidi in the business all these years. “I would say that hard work always pays off. Integrity is very important and people will always do business with you no matter what happens in business. Whether you make money or lose money, when you have your reputation everybody will want to do business with you,” Eidi said.

Building healthy relationships with other small business owners in the retail sector in order to help them grow into multiple locations is another important aspect of the company’s activity. In fact, the firm’s key advantage is the greater knowledge and expertise with local merchandise and services. This mainly contributes to helping customers with particular needs in the retail market. “If the tenant is looking in the local market, my company would be much more informed than a national company. We are intimately familiar with our plazas in the local market,” Eidi added. Moreover, Eidi Properties invests in maintaining and bringing assets up to date, from parking lot repairs to new lighting and other fixtures.

The Future of Small Businesses

Eidi Properties’ team

Prudence is a crucial aspect when talking about the future of small business in the real estate industry. Eidi is planning a steady, cautious growth. “Our goal is to eventually have the best hard corners with great ingress and egress and with high-traffic counts. We’d like to have as many hard corners as possible throughout the state of Ohio and Michigan. We definitely want to grow, but we want to grow carefully, cautiously and into fine real estate,” said Eidi. One of the first decisions he has made this year is relocating the company’s headquarters. The team moved into a 4,200 square-foot office suite in the St. James Plaza on 6725 W. Central Ave. in Toledo, Ohio.

For Eidi, the future looks bright.

“I think there’s an opportunity for people who want to sell right now, and I think there will be an opportunity in the next year, too,” Eidi said. “We do anticipate there being a surge in sales volume the remainder of this and early next year, with people trying to acquire and lock in low interest rates before they continue to increase.”

Images courtesy of Ramy Eidi via Twitter and Eidi Properties website