Drive past the sites several times, on different days, and at different times. Be sure to meet with the planning and zoning staff at City Hall. Ask if there are any plans for road work, traffic signals, or road improvement projects near the sites that will affect access. Such projects may ultimately help your location, but could prove disastrous in the short-term, particularly for a new business without an existing clientele. Ask city staff to share their traffic studies showing vehicular counts on roads adjacent or close to your potential sites.
Many cities regularly conduct such studies.
Those studies are great ways to identify comparative traffic volumes at different locations. Higher rents or land costs at one site may be justified by a much higher traffic count at that location. Those are just a few of the important factors in finding the best location for your retail business. If you have the budget, consider hiring a professional site locator to help with your decision. You also can do more of your own refined research, with tools such as Location, Location, Location or other publications that deal with retail siting decisions.