The Location Group

What The Location Group does

The Location Group (also trading as The Prime Location Group) is a Zurich-headquartered boutique retail property consultancy founded in 2005 by Marc-Christian Riebe. The firm specializes in matching international luxury and premium brands with prime high-street retail locations across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Scandinavia, the US, and Asia. Its customer base includes luxury fashion houses (Hermès, Gucci, Moncler, Brunello Cucinelli, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Valentino, Chopard, Armani), watchmakers (Hublot), and a growing roster of mid-to-premium and F&B brands (Nike, Apple, Zara, Pret A Manger, Burger King, Starbucks Switzerland, McDonald's). Since founding, the firm has executed more than 500 deals and facilitated over €1 billion in transaction value.

Core offerings comprise tenant and landlord representation for prime retail (1A-lage) leases and key money negotiations, off-market listings, and discretion services for confidential transactions. The firm has expanded its product surface beyond pure brokerage into market intelligence publications: an annual Swiss Retail Report (most recent 2026 edition), a deep-dive Bahnhofstrasse Analysis (2025) covering ownership structures and tenant mix for Zurich's flagship shopping street, and a beta Property Intelligence Platform (launched 2024) providing interactive maps, rental data, and key money analytics. There is no proprietary technology platform, software product, or digital self-serve channel; operations remain relationship-driven, with a single Zurich office on Bahnhofstrasse supplemented historically by a London presence on South Molton Street established in 2011.

The firm operates as a privately held, founder-owned company (The Location Group Ltd, registered in the Canton of Zug) with 51-100 employees, no external funding, and revenue generated purely on a transaction-fee commission basis. Go-to-market is sales-led and reputation-driven, relying on Riebe's personal network of luxury brand executives and property owners, supported by earned media coverage, the Instagram channel @the_location_group, and thought-leadership reports. Pricing is undisclosed and negotiated per transaction. The business has navigated material shocks including the 2008 financial crisis and the 2015 Swiss Franken shock, the latter prompting restructuring toward the German retail market.

Name

The Location Group

Legal name

The Location Group Ltd

Website

https://location.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Location Group is a Zurich-based boutique retail property consultancy that brokers prime high-street locations for international luxury and premium brands across Europe, the US, and Asia, complementing its brokerage services with proprietary market intelligence reports.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (53121)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail Brokerage (BPAJABAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Tenant Representation & Corporate Services Brokerage (BPAJABAJ)

Keywords

• Luxury retail brokerage
• Commercial real estate services
• Prime retail locations
• Property consultancy
• Tenant representation

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Property Brokerage Commission: The firm earns commissions on successful retail property transactions, matching international luxury and premium brands with prime high-street locations across Europe. As a boutique agency specializing in 1A-lage (prime street) retail spaces, revenue is transaction-based, earned upon lease signing or property deal closure. No subscription or recurring revenue model is described.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Location Group is a boutique retail property consultancy that brokers prime high-street ("1A-Lage") retail locations for international luxury, premium fashion, watch, and lifestyle brands across Europe, the US, and Asia. Its core service is transaction-based retail property brokerage and tenant representation, complemented by off-market deal sourcing, lease negotiation support, and proprietary market intelligence publications. The firm operates a single Zürich headquarters at Bahnhofstrasse 58 and serves as an intermediary between luxury brand tenants and premium property owners/landlords.

Product overview

The Prime Location Group operates as a retail property boutique agency offering a unified service centered on luxury retail real estate brokerage. The core offering is retail property brokerage for premium locations across Switzerland and Europe, complemented by market intelligence products including the Property Intelligence Platform (beta), Swiss Retail Report, and Bahnhofstrasse Analysis. Additional services include off-market listings and discretion/confidentiality services for sensitive transactions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Swiss Retail Report: Annual comprehensive report on the Swiss retail market with interactive maps, rental data, and market trends.
• Property Intelligence

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ successful retail property transactions completed
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers31 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Savills: Global real estate advisory with a strong European retail practice, particularly active in London, Paris, and German-speaking markets. Both firms focus on luxury and premium retail tenant representation across primary European shopping streets.
• Knight Frank: International property consultancy with established retail and luxury practices spanning EMEA, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas. Particular overlap in serving ultra-high-net-worth-related retail categories and prime city retail leasing.
• Cushman & Wakefield: Global commercial real estate services firm with a dedicated EMEA Retail practice that brokers high-street and luxury retail tenant representation across Europe. Directly competes for mandates like the Zurich Bahnhofstrasse, Maximilianstrasse Munich, and Boulevard de la Croisette deals that The Location Group also targets.
• Colliers International: Global real estate services firm with growing retail leasing practice across Europe. Competes for luxury and premium retail tenant representation mandates in major continental European markets.
• CBRE Group: World's largest commercial real estate services firm with deep retail practice spanning tenant representation, landlord leasing, and investment sales. Competition overlaps in prime European luxury corridors where both firms serve luxury brands and institutional landlords.
• Engel & Völkers: German-rooted luxury property specialist with strong retail-adjacent and luxury commercial leasing operations. Franchise-driven model with European retail real estate teams that compete for luxury and premium brand mandates in DACH-region markets.
• JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle): Global real estate services firm with strong retail leasing and capital markets teams across Europe, the US, and Asia. Both firms compete for cross-border luxury brand expansion mandates and landlord-side leasing of premium retail assets.

Emerging players

• Northacre: London-based boutique luxury real estate advisory focused on prime central London super-prime residential and select commercial/luxury retail. Smaller scale and narrower geographic focus than Location Group but comparable boutique luxury positioning.

Others

• Eastdil Secured: Specialized global real estate investment banking firm focused on investment sales and capital markets for institutional-grade assets. Indirectly adjacent given Location Group's landlord representation on prime retail assets, though not a tenant-rep direct competitor.

Regional players

• BNP Paribas Real Estate: European-headquartered real estate services arm of BNP Paribas with deep continental retail and office leasing expertise. Particularly active in France, Germany, and Italy - overlapping with Location Group's European expansion mandates.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/the_location_group
• Facebookfacebook.com/realestateonblockchain

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Location Group