Offices and shops for rent in La Marsa

In La Marsa, a shop is rented for its footfall first. On Saturday mornings, between place Saf-Saf, the market and the corniche, the whole of the northern suburbs comes down to shop, have a coffee and stroll past the windows. Traders know it: a well-placed shop in the town centre finds a tenant even when the rent makes people wince, and key money (pas-de-porte) deals are struck between people in the trade.

This page gathers the listings for shops and offices to rent in La Marsa posted on Houni by owners and by agencies in the northern suburbs. Supply is steady, with more than a page of listings this early autumn, from small 20 m² boutiques to open-plan office floors and whole villas let to companies. To compare with downtown Tunis, Les Berges du Lac or Montplaisir, see all the offices and shops to rent in Tunis governorate.

Marsa Ville and La Marsa Plage: passing trade

The commercial heart is La Marsa's avenue Habib Bourguiba and the streets running down to La Marsa Plage and the Medina. Here you find pastry shops, clothes shops, bank branches, opticians and ice-cream parlours that do most of their trade from May to September. Units are often small, on the ground floor of older buildings, with a narrow window and sometimes a storeroom at the back. Commercial rents in this area are the highest in the delegation, and many owners ask for key money on top of the rent when you move in.

The season matters more here than elsewhere. An ice-cream parlour or snack bar near the corniche takes a large share of its turnover in summer, when holidaymakers and the diaspora fill the streets until midnight. A service business, by contrast, lives off local customers all year round. Before signing, walk past the unit on a Tuesday in February and a Saturday in July: you will know what the location is really worth.

Marsa Erriadh, El Montazeh and Hadayek: local customers

Further inland, Marsa Erriadh, El Montazeh and Marsa Hadayek offer units at the foot of residential developments, newer and wider, with less of a parking headache than in the centre. This is where pharmacies, medical practices, mini-markets, nurseries and gyms set up. A store to rent in La Marsa in these areas generally costs less per m² than by the sea, for a loyal clientele of families. The streets around the Zéphyr shopping centre also attract brands that want a share of its flow.

Towards El Bahr El Azrak and Errmila, rents drop further still. You find garages turned into workshops, storage units and local shops. For a craftsman, a delivery business or a small wholesaler, it is often the only affordable address in La Marsa.

Villa offices in Sidi Daoud, Gammarth and on the Lac road

An office to rent in La Marsa often takes the form of a villa or a converted villa floor: law firms, communications agencies, IT services companies, representative offices. Sidi Daoud and Marsa Hadayek, close to Les Berges du Lac 2, are the addresses these firms ask for most, as they want a residential setting a few minutes from their clients. Gammarth and Gammarth Supérieur tend to host businesses tied to tourism, events and catering.

A villa let as an office has to be allowed to be one. Check with La Marsa municipality that the business fits the zoning and, in a residential development, that the co-ownership rules do not reserve the floors for housing. Those who end up looking for a home rather than a workplace will find all the homes to rent in La Marsa on another page.

Commercial lease, key money and meters

A commercial lease is not signed like a residential one. Under certain conditions it gives the tenant a right of renewal that weighs on the value of the business: read the term, the rent review clause and what happens if you sell your business. Have the contract registered at the tax office (recette des finances). If key money is requested, get it in writing, along with what it covers.

Ask too whether the unit has its own STEG (electricity) and SONEDE (water) meters, enough electrical power for your trade and extraction for catering. In the older buildings of Marsa Ville, a sign on the facade often needs the agreement of the co-owners and the municipality. And if buying the premises appeals, look at the offices and shops for sale in La Marsa: supply is scarcer there, but it exists.