If you oversee a retail center in the Greater Chicago area, you understand the importance of making a good first impression.
Attracting new shoppers and increasing foot traffic during key holiday shopping events is influenced significantly by your curb appeal.
Luckily, there are quick and impactful landscape enhancements that can transform the appearance of your property, from entryways and signage areas to parking lots, outdoor seating areas and planting beds. These elements influence how customers view your space, often even before they enter.
Here are a few intelligent, easy-to-execute landscaping projects for retail establishments that can enhance your retail center’s visibility and attractiveness in a competitive marketplace.
In today’s competitive retail environment, it’s not just what’s inside your Greater Chicago retail center that counts. The exterior of your retail space is what customers see before they enter. This plays a critical role in driving business results.
From attracting foot traffic to increasing shopper satisfaction, strategic landscape maintenance for retail spaces directly impacts your bottom line.
Here’s why investing in landscape improvements is one of the best, most cost-effective ways to elevate your retail property and support stronger business outcomes.
Your retail landscape is often the first thing a potential shopper sees.
A clean, vibrant exterior draws positive attention from the street and can turn passers-by into walk-ins. Seasonal flowers, trimmed shrubs, fresh mulch, and tidy walkways send a strong signal that the businesses inside are just as polished and inviting.
Research shows that customers may spend up to 12 percent more in retail centers with attractive landscaping. Shopping centers with proper commercial landscape maintenance and installation in Greater Chicago can command up to 7 percent more in rental revenue.
Thoughtful retail center landscaping ideas create a more pleasant environment for shoppers.
Shade trees, benches, planters full of colorful flowers, and lawn areas can encourage people to linger longer, increasing the chances they’ll spend more money.
A well-designed exterior can also support outdoor events, pop-ups, and seasonal promotions.
Professional landscaping adds measurable value to commercial retail properties.
It enhances the overall image and can improve appraisals, attract investors, and increase lease appeal.
Even minor upgrades, such as refreshed entry areas or updated plantings, can significantly impact one's perception. Professional landscaping has been shown to increase resale values by as much as 14 percent, according to a study from the University of Washington.
Good landscape maintenance for retail spaces isn’t just attractive; it also serves a functional purpose.
Clear sight lines, well-lit paths, and adequately maintained trees and shrubs contribute to a safe and accessible environment.
These details enhance foot traffic flow and mitigate liability risks, which are crucial for any retail setting.
In competitive environments such as the Greater Chicago area, retail centers encounter considerable rivalry.
An attractive, inviting exterior distinguishes your business. When shoppers have multiple choices, a well-maintained landscape featuring impressive retail center landscaping ideas can influence their decisions and enhance the positive brand image of your store tenants.
A few smart changes could be all you need to transform your retail center’s appearance.
But knowing where to begin can be a challenge.
Here are some quick high-impact landscaping projects for retail buildings that can instantly elevate your property’s curb appeal and make a lasting impression.
One of the fastest ways to tidy up a retail property is to apply fresh mulch and clean the edging of your plant beds.
This landscape maintenance for retail spaces sharpens the lines around beds, while mulch suppresses weeds and highlights the plants.
Do this especially around signage areas, entryways, and walkways to create a welcoming and inviting look.
Chicago’s distinct seasons provide an ideal opportunity to rotate vibrant flower displays at high-traffic entry points.
Spring bulbs, such as tulips, summer annuals like petunias, fall’s rich colors in mums, and evergreen winter planters create a fresh, welcoming color palette year-round.
This quick retail center landscaping idea instantly boosts visual interest and shows shoppers you take good care of your property.
Shoppers have to park somewhere, so don’t overlook your parking areas.
These are often the first and last spaces customers see, which is why this landscaping project for retail can make a big difference. Clean up overgrown shrubs, replace faded mulch with fresh hardwood mulch, and install low-maintenance ornamental grasses or flowering perennials.
Strategically placed planters around tenant entrances and near common areas, such as patios, add color and charm without occupying much space.
In Chicago’s cooler months, use cold-tolerant greenery, such as dwarf evergreens, red-twig dogwood, or winter pansies, to maintain curb appeal through the frostier times of year.
These months are typically the peak time for the larger shopping seasons, making this retail center landscaping idea particularly effective.
Your retail center sign or main entrance sign is one of the most visible branding tools you have, so a simple landscaping project for retail buildings is to upgrade it.
Frame it with symmetrical evergreens, add pops of seasonal color, and ensure landscaping lighting highlights the signage at night. These areas should reflect the professionalism and excitement of the retail businesses inside.
In Chicago, fall and winter are characterized by shorter days and longer nights. This is where landscape lighting can be a key component of a retail landscape project that instantly enhances shoppers’ experiences.
Using lighting to highlight paths, signage, trees, and storefronts.
Not only does this improve the look of your retail space, but it also improves safety and security, making the center feel more upscale and welcoming after dark.
A clean, well-maintained environment speaks volumes about the business inside of your retail center.
Landscape maintenance for retail spaces includes cleaning up hardscapes. Power washing can keep them looking sharp and remove salt residue and stains. Also, stay on top of cracks and repairs to ensure liability concerns, such as trips and falls, remain low.
You’ll want to regularly audit your outdoor seating areas for broken planters, rusted signs, faded banners, and other visual elements that start to make your site feel neglected.
Then, once these areas are clean and any necessary repairs have been made, consider refreshing them with small upgrades, such as updated benches. While these may seem minor, they can shape customers’ impressions of your retail center and make a lasting impact.
While seasonal color adds quick appeal, installing new trees, shrubs, and perennials is a long-term investment that significantly improves your retail center’s identity and functionality.
Shade trees, such as honey locust and serviceberry, provide relief from hot Chicago summers for shoppers, while also adding vertical interest and structure to large parking areas or open plazas. Properly placed trees can define walkways, buffer traffic, and enhance comfort for pedestrians.
Foundation paintings and storefront beds can benefit from low-maintenance, year-round shrubs like boxwoods and hydrangeas. These plants serve as visual anchors, frame tenant signage, and provide seasonal texture and color.
Next, choose hardy, regionally appropriate perennials, such as black-eyed Susan and coneflower, to provide a consistent, low-maintenance base of color and greenery that balances out the seasonal annuals.
With this retail center landscaping idea, use plantings to guide shopper movement, soften building edges, and separate walkways from parking areas. Consider bloom times, maintenance requirements, and visibility when selecting specific species. A professionally designed planting plan ensures year-round interest and a cohesive look across your site.
Your retail center’s exterior is not just a backdrop. It’s a reflection of your brand. Whether your retail business’s tone is calming and natural or sleek and modern, the right landscape project for retail buildings can help express that message from the moment someone arrives.
A trusted commercial landscape partner in Greater Chicago can transform your space in ways that go beyond aesthetics. From guiding foot traffic and enhancing customer experience to highlighting architectural features and improving energy efficiency, thoughtful landscape upgrades can drive real results.
Ready to make your retail center stand out? Give KD Landscape a call. We’ll help you uncover quick, strategic improvements that boost curb appeal and bring lasting value to your site.
Want a retail center that has great curb appeal? Request a proposal today for commercial landscape maintenance & installation in Greater Chicago. Together, we can help your shopping center look amazing while also providing great areas for function and usability.