Best areas to open convenience store in West Midlands
29 West Midlands local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a convenience store in West Midlands?
In West Midlands, the best area to open a convenience store is Tamworth, with a Gera Business Location Score of 64.2/100: premises at £92/m²/yr and local median pay £28,143. Stratford-on-Avon ranks lowest of 29 West Midlands authorities at 54.2/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top West Midlands area for convenience store: Tamworth.
How this is calculatedWest Midlands ranked for convenience store
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tamworth | 64.2/100 | £92 | £28,143 | £3,974 |
| 2 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 64.1/100 | £96 | £27,238 | £4,147 |
| 3 | Sandwell | 64/100 | £94 | £28,766 | £4,061 |
| 4 | Stoke-on-Trent | 62.6/100 | £96 | £30,767 | £4,147 |
| 5 | Redditch | 62.4/100 | £96 | £30,780 | £4,147 |
| 6 | Stafford | 62.3/100 | £109 | £28,523 | £4,709 |
| 7 | Staffordshire Moorlands | 62.3/100 | £112 | £26,204 | £4,838 |
| 8 | Worcester | 61.6/100 | £107 | £30,003 | £4,622 |
| 9 | Telford and Wrekin | 61.5/100 | £103 | £30,601 | £4,450 |
| 10 | Dudley | 61.5/100 | £111 | £29,071 | £4,795 |
| 11 | Malvern Hills | 61.4/100 | £119 | £27,744 | £5,141 |
| 12 | Wyre Forest | 61.3/100 | £119 | £27,346 | £5,141 |
| 13 | Herefordshire, County of | 61.1/100 | £124 | £28,366 | £5,357 |
| 14 | Shropshire | 60.6/100 | £123 | £28,397 | £5,314 |
| 15 | Cannock Chase | 60.6/100 | £117 | £29,719 | £5,054 |
| 16 | Bromsgrove | 60.2/100 | £125 | £27,494 | £5,400 |
| 17 | Wychavon | 60.2/100 | £112 | £32,022 | £4,838 |
| 18 | Nuneaton and Bedworth | 60.1/100 | £109 | £31,319 | £4,709 |
| 19 | South Staffordshire | 59.4/100 | £124 | £28,259 | £5,357 |
| 20 | Walsall | 59.4/100 | £126 | £28,691 | £5,443 |
| 21 | Lichfield | 58.9/100 | £129 | £28,845 | £5,573 |
| 22 | Warwick | 58.5/100 | £117 | £33,616 | £5,054 |
| 23 | Solihull | 58.5/100 | £109 | £35,794 | £4,709 |
| 24 | Coventry | 58.2/100 | £110 | £35,124 | £4,752 |
| 25 | East Staffordshire | 57.8/100 | £130 | £31,048 | £5,616 |
| 26 | Wolverhampton | 57.8/100 | £128 | £32,053 | £5,530 |
| 27 | Rugby | 55.4/100 | £125 | £36,417 | £5,400 |
| 28 | Birmingham | 55/100 | £145 | £33,374 | £6,264 |
| 29 | Stratford-on-Avon | 54.2/100 | £116 | £42,929 | £5,011 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for convenience store premises in West Midlands?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in West Midlands is £92/m²/yr in Tamworth. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Tamworth ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for convenience store in Tamworth?
- For a 100 m² unit in Tamworth, business rates are roughly £3,974/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £9,200/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
Opening a convenience store in West Midlands?
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Contains public sector information published by Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: VOA Business Floorspace + ONS Business Counts + ONS ASHE (work geography) + ONS population estimates (2025 (VOA 31 March 2025; ASHE 2025 provisional; Business Counts 2025; population mid-2024), published December 2025).