Location research consultant Patrick Shabram is a new Columinate member—welcome! Shabram has over thirty years of experience in store location research, market research, and Geographic Information Systems. His clients include both startup co-ops and established food co-ops planning expansion or relocation. Shabram summarizes his professional practice, using current research, as dedicated to providing accurate numbers that support informed decisions by the co-op's planning group.  

Shabram worked for many years with Debbie Suasunna and G2G Research Group. He makes his home in Loveland, Colorado, and he also teaches at the nearby community college in Fort Collins. 

His primary focus has been working with startup co-ops, and in 2025 Shabram consulted with 15 different startups. Typically, these engagements will be with the local board of directors or startup committee. At the same time, with Suasunna reducing her workload, Shabram has shifted to more work with established co-ops, with the latter now comprising up to 40 percent of his clients.  

Startup co-ops, his primary focus, often are situated in underserved areas—low-access and low-income, usually urban. Shabram has a particular interest in working in these communities. Compared to a year ago, he says, the available data for such scenarios is improving, and there is more experience to draw upon. Shabram mentioned his good working relations with key allies Food Co-op Initiative and National Co+op Grocers (NCG), and both these organizations provide essential support to help ensure co-op success.  

He provided the example of collaborating with NCG, which maintains a financial metric calling for a minimum projected annual sales per retail square foot; this obviously bears on planning decisions about store size and location. Another key design factor is parking—"people focus too much on the building and the inside," says Shabram; he identified inadequate parking as a very common and major mistake in store planning.  

"More often than not," says Shabram, "people will think that they need to open a bigger store, but the sales volume, especially in the first year of sales, just doesn't seem to support it." In such a scenario, if might be better to open a smaller store, maybe designed in a way that supports future expansion. "The first couple of years will be the harder years—it takes time for the store to mature in sales." 

Shabram says he must maintain professional discipline and credibility in a startup atmosphere of enthusiasm. His goal, again, is to give as accurate a forecast as possible. He agrees that each store is "unique," but such a self-conception must be compared with retail metrics that are based on the results from hundreds of stores over years of retail development.   

Current data on shopping patterns by census tract, frequently updated, is essential for establishing the demographic context and sales potential for a specific site. "We're looking at each census tract and then comparing it to other stores based upon its competitive environment and based on the demographic characteristics within that environment." Such data compares thousands of census tracts and can also differentiate according to site characteristics.

This deep data dive is supplemented by Shabram's cumulative knowledge about startup co-ops and established co-ops that carry out expansions. Ongoing research and development experience, shared with allies and colleagues, make his work dynamic and evolving. 

For a February 2025 profile, see this report in the Columinate Library.

Patrick Shabram may be reached at patrickshabram@columinate.coop.