Why Fast Growing Companies Tend To Benefit From SoHo Offices

"Perception is reality." How often have you heard this pearl of wisdom? When finding a location or relocating your retail or tech company, it's your customers' or clients' perception of innovation, creativity and trend-setting leadership that matters most. For this reason, SoHo offices have become a wise choice for businesses of different sizes.

First, a little background.

Historic Appeal

SoHo is an attractive Manhattan neighborhood located in the "South of Houston Street." Hence, the shorter nickname. It extends all the way down to Canal Street and includes some 26 city blocks with about 500 highly-unique and regal buildings.

According to history, the nickname came about in the early 1960s. It was coined by an urban planner who had rediscovered a neighborhood established more than a century earlier. For the most part, the location was lost to decay, neglect, and abandonment.

Despite that, it was noticeable that the neighborhood offered some of the world's greatest surviving examples of cast iron architecture. Most of these elegant buildings were built between about 1840 and the 1880s.

Some streets are paved with Belgian cobblestones. Meanwhile, the entire area retains a sense of the past that, counter-intuitively, which draws the new, vibrant, and forward-thinking. The neighborhood earned a National Register of Historic Places designation in 1978. It was also declared a National Historic Landmark, furthering its appeal.

However, those first "re-settlers" came to SoHo for pragmatic reasons more than for the landscape. The neighborhood was full of abandoned warehouses and cheap-rent spaces, which made it perfect for penniless but talented artists. The warehouses became light-filled lofts and studios. The area became the epitome of cool.

That's the true draw of SoHo: its ability to welcome those who crave new vitality in a charming and entirely unique big city atmosphere. Many who find their way here today are business tenants with new ideas. Plus the rest are people who might become their customers and clients.

SoHo Today

At the time of its rediscovery in the 1960s and 1970s, SoHo began to attract tourists and New Yorkers for its many unique attributes of architecture, art and commerce. Some artists became visionary gallery owners. High-end retailers moved in to become part of the vibe. When e-commerce became a thing, the area drew young, well-educated and visionary digital entrepreneurs.

That's the SoHo neighborhood profile of today. And that's what makes SoHo offices so appealing to tenants who want to take advantage of the international and well-heeled foot traffic. That, of course, is in addition to networking with other tenants with common talents and interests.

Fashion, trend-starting, and elegance now mark life in the district. The geography is filled with quaint cafes, fine dining establishments, glamorous shopping venues, fashionable galleries, hip e-commerce business start-ups, office spaces, and loft apartments with soaring ceilings and tall windows.

Who wouldn't want to be part of this, right?

Rubbing Shoulders

One of the leading reasons to consider bringing your retail or e-commerce business to SoHo is the backdrop. Not just the trend-setting businesses and smart entrepreneurs, but all who "swim in the same pool."

In short, you can likewise take advantage of the talent pool that's already here when it comes to new hires and vendors.

Think about it...

Silicon Valley became known as a West Coast destination for digital entrepreneurs not because there was one successful company there -- but because there were dozens. And then hundreds. If your business was located in Silicon Valley, even the victories of a direct competitor brought benefits to your company in boosting the reputation of the entire region.

That's also how the automotive business grew in and around Detroit and how Pittsburgh became a steel-making capital. Regions build brands from a collective of individual, like-minded successes, and all thrive together.

Put another way, businesses succeed by "rubbing shoulders" with others in that industry, by drawing the like-minded together and partnering in shared success.

The Same Story

It's the same story in SoHo, but with an added component. In the case of this famous New York City neighborhood, its brand recognition doesn't just attract entrepreneurs and workers within the business fields birthed here. It also entices the visitors that can make up your customer base if you own a retail operation.

Yes, you'll find business thinkers like you aplenty here. However, you'll also see that the endless stream of the populations will make your cash registers ring. To these constant visitors, your business already has a brand just in its address. You've won them over even before they set foot in your SoHo offices.

If you own an e-commerce business, it's not the street traffic of primary importance to you, but those with digital aptitude who'll get a charge out of your operation just by where it's based. Before they've even seriously studied your company, these future clients, employees and investors will see your business as being cutting-edge, dynamic and future-facing. That's before you've made your first pitch.

Please take a long look at SoHo as your next retail or e-commerce business address. You'll like what you see.