Finding the right premises

After choosing the legal status of your company, the next step is to decide on its location: implementation strategy, first steps, compliance with land use plans, etc. You can find key information to help you choose your place of business.

Define your location strategy

Knowing your competitors is a key aspect of your market study in order to set your prices and position your brand to be able to market properly and sell your products. You will quickly realise that the fiercer the competition, the more you will have to innovate. Therefore, it’s important that you analyse your competitors’ profiles and their secret weapons. This starts with a study of the location of “chocolate” points of sale.

Below is a study on the evolution of sales outlets over the past 50 years and their location in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Changes in sales outlet location

The sector saw a steady decline in the number of sales outlets from 1950 to 1997. There were 572 sales outlets in the country in 1950 and only 117 by 1997¹. During that same period, speciality food shops (butcher shops, cheese shops, bakeries, etc.) tended to disappear. This has been the result of changes in consumer habits: customers want to minimise their shopping time by going to major retailers.

The chocolate sector began to grow again significantly starting in 1997. The number of “Chocolatier - Confectionery” shops increased by 66.6% between 1997 and 2017 (i.e. 78 new shops). This growth is the result of both their increasingly tourist-oriented approach and the renewed popularity of gourmet products.

Chocolatier locations

Chocolate shops are primarily located in the Pentagone, and more precisely, around the Grand-Place.

• Rue au Beurre
• Rue de la Colline
• Galeries royales Saint-hubert
• Around the Manneken Pis
• The Sablon district

The latter - the Sablon - has become a chocolate hotspot in Brussels. Many chocolatiers have moved to the Place du Grand Sablon alongside the antiques shops and have contributed to the square’s new nickname: the Place Vendôme of chocolate.   

Beyond the Pentagone, there are also chocolate shops in the centre of some of the peripheral municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (Xavier de Bue and Fort Jaco in Uccle, Place du Miroir in Jette, etc.) as well as inside periurban shopping centres (Docks Bruxsel and Woluwe Shopping Center).

The trend of setting up outside of the city centres is related to the loss of appeal of the latter due to²:

• A feeling that the city centre is not as safe.
• A lack of parking space.
• Difficult access (for PRMs, overly frequent or long public works, etc.).

Pedestrian footfall in Brussels

Streets, main roads and shopping districts all mean customers walking about. To help you find the best location for your future chocolate shop, we provide a map below showing the shopping streets with the highest pedestrian traffic flows.

The best location isn’t always obvious

Despite all of this help and advice, the process of selecting a location and moving in isn’t always an easy one. The range of experiences of the chocolatiers we met with is quite diverse.

They all agree that location is of essential importance and can’t be ignored. Some insist that you should use an estate agent who can provide information about the evolution of the streets, while others emphasise the need for a good market study upstream while working with people who know the neighbourhood well.

Don’t hesitate to leave the centre 

While the Sablon (and the centre of Brussels in general) is very attractive for future chocolatiers, they should also be aware that prices are very high in this part of the city. Don't hesitate to consider dynamic neighbourhoods outside of the city centre. Vanessa Renard chose the Chasse district in Etterbeek while Corné Dynastie opted for the Woluwe-Saint-Lambert Shopping Centre because of its “high purchasing potential”.

More and more chocolatiers are choosing a sales location with an open (or, at least, visible) workshop to inform consumers about their craft and to be able to easily provide additional activities (tastings, group workshops, etc.).

However, if you want to have a workshop on site, you will have to forego the city of Brussels because workshops over 250 m² are not authorised by the land use plan. This, for example, was the case for Frédéric Blondeel, who eventually decided to move to Koekelberg to find suitable premises.

⁽¹⁾ The change in chocolate and confectionery sales outlets since 1950 was established thanks to surveys carried out by our field agents and data from the Annuaire de commerce et de l’industrie de Belgique Mertens & Rosez.

⁽²⁾ Dagnies, J., & Goelff, M. (2016). Quel avenir pour le commerce en centre-ville ?, [online]. Cepess – Centre d’étude du cdH, Brussels. Available at: http://www.cepess.be/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CEPESS-etude-commerce-centre-ville-29042016-CLEAN.pdf

Taking the first steps

When you start, don’t hesitate to contact 1819 via their telephone service or their website. They will provide guidance about the first steps to take when looking for premises. An advisor will provide you with information about the databases available and the services you can consult, notably at hub.brussels.

Next, it will be helpful to contact the following services:

• Inventimmo: you can search this database for available business premises.
• hub.brussels’ retail unit: this unit also helps the self-employed identify neighbourhoods to set up in thanks to a range of geomarketing indicators. The advisors know the market, street and neighbourhood traffic flows, and customer needs and expectations well. Contact: retail@hub.brussels 
• The municipal land management agencies: there are seven regular and four autonomous land management agencies in the Brussels-Capital Region. They are described on the land management agencies page of local.brussels.
• Estate agents: the Institut professionnel des agents immobiliers (IPI) provides a list of certified and private agents who can assist you in your search for the perfect location in each region.

Take land use plans into account

When you want to set up or expand your business in the Brussels region, you have to first check which zones you can locate your business in. To do so, you will have to take the Regional Land Use Plan (PRAS) or the Municipal Land Use Plan (PPAS) into account.

How can you determine the PRAS zone in which a given address is located? By doing research using the map on the BruGIS website. You must consult the Region's urban use website to see the current PRAS recommendations. 

Good to know: You often need to be in possession of an urban planning permit before you can set up your business in a given location.

• The Regional Land Use Plan (PRAS): this plan divides the Brussels region into a number of different zones (mixed zone, residential zone, urban industry zone, etc.). It defines the number of m² allowed for each use by type of zone (housing, retail, offices, etc.). For example, a shop in a mixed zone and outside of a retail hub strip, have a maximum surface area of 200 m² and, under certain conditions, 1,000 m².
• Local Land Use Plans (PPAS):  Municipalities sometimes implement special Local Land Use Plans (PPAS) for given neighbourhoods. The plans also contain instructions regarding the different businesses that can or cannot operate in them. The BruGis website provides information on the activities in question. To obtain information about the content of a PPAS, it is helpful to view the municipality’s website or to contact the local planning office of the municipality.

Good to know: It isn’t possible to get a waiver to the PRAS.