Offices and shops for rent in Hammamet

Renting premises in Hammamet means first choosing your calendar. A souvenir shop in Yasmine Hammamet or a restaurant on the tourist road makes most of its turnover between June and September, and has to hold out for the rest of the year. A pharmacy, a bakery or a practice in Mrezga or Hammamet Ouest works twelve months a year with a resident clientele. The two markets are not let at the same price, nor under the same contract.

The listings are posted by owners and agencies, and supply varies from week to week. To compare with Nabeul, Grombalia or Kélibia, the page of offices and shops for rent in Nabeul governorate covers the whole of Cap Bon.

Yasmine and the tourist road: seasonal trade

Around the Yasmine Hammamet marina and its rebuilt medina, units are let to traders who live off hotel guests and families on holiday: clothing, crafts, ice cream parlours, car hire, excursion agencies. The rent there is high for the floor area, and some owners only offer a seasonal lease.

Before signing, count the weeks that are really busy. A well-placed shop in August can sit almost empty from November to March, when some of the hotels close or run at half speed. If possible, negotiate a stepped rent, lower in winter, or a smaller advance. On the tourist road in Hammamet Nord, cafés and restaurants enjoy a local clientele at weekends, which smooths out the season a little.

Mrezga, the centre and Hammamet Ouest: year-round trade

The Mrezga estate has acquired many commercial ground floors at the foot of its residential buildings, let to minimarkets, pharmacies, medical practices, hairdressers and service agencies. It is the sector where a unit finds a tenant most easily, in January as in July.

In the centre, around the medina and avenue de la République, shops mix local customers and tourists. Units there are old, sometimes small and without parking, but passing trade is constant. Hammamet Ouest, towards the Tunis road, offers lower rents for neighbourhood businesses, craftsmen and garages included.

Offices as such are few. Doctors, lawyers, architects and estate agencies often set up in a flat in a residential building used for business: check that the building's co-ownership rules allow it.

Bir Bouregba: storage and logistics

Bir Bouregba, with its railway station and motorway exit, suits businesses that need space and lorry access: building material yards, workshops, storage for the shops on the coast. Rents there bear no comparison with those in Yasmine. Check the electrical power available, the state of the roof and the real width of the access. The sector also serves as a base for building firms, very active in Hammamet where villa and residential building sites hardly ever stop. A fenced storage yard with a small adjoining office finds a tenant fairly quickly there, especially if it is close to the main road and easy for a heavy goods vehicle to reach.

The lease: seasonal or commercial

A standard commercial lease, registered at the tax office, gives a tenant who runs a business there over time a right to renewal. A seasonal lease protects almost nothing: at the end of the summer, the owner can take back the unit or relet it for more. If you invest in fitting out, a kitchen, a terrace or a shopfront, insist on a lease of several years and have it written down what happens to your works when you leave.

For a restaurant business or a pavement terrace, check with the municipality before committing. And for those thinking of buying the premises rather than paying rent, the offices and shops for sale in Hammamet show the going prices.