Business Survivability in Richmond, Philadelphia
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Richmond is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~85% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Best business: a Veterinary Clinic in Richmond (~85% average survival rate, ~89% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #11 across all neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia
- Neighborhood average: ~79% two-year survival across all business types
- Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 10 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
- Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
- Detailed methodology
Last reviewed: September 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
In this article:
- Summary
- Is Richmond a good place to start a business?
- How to find the best location
- Best businesses to open
- How much money could a business make?
- What businesses should open next?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Richmond is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~85% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~89% chance; next is a Salad Shop with a 82.11% chance, followed by a Chicken Shop with a 81.10% chance.
Is Richmond a good place to start a business?
Richmond earns the #11 spot in Philadelphia for new business survivability, with an average score of ~79% across all business types analyzed.
- The survivability gap between the best and average addresses in Richmond reaches ~10% for the strongest-performing business categories.
- Even so, the weakest addresses in Richmond for those same business types can underperform considerably. StreetSpring's address-level scoring exists precisely to identify which specific storefronts make the difference.
- Richmond's 9.8% commercial vacancy rate signals the current availability of storefronts and shapes the competitive environment that survivability scores reflect.
Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
How can you find the best location to open a business in Richmond?
Using StreetSpring, you can identify the exact address in Richmond that gives your specific business concept the highest survivability score. StreetSpring's 2026 model ranks this area #1 in Richmond for a Veterinary Clinic:
This map shows the optimal location for a Veterinary Clinic in Richmond based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. The prediction model incorporates hundreds of location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Richmond?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years at a good address |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 87.50% |
| 2 | Salad Shop | 84.51% |
| 3 | Chicken Shop | 83.21% |
| 4 | Mexican Restaurant | 83.11% |
| 5 | Smoke Shop | 82.30% |
| 6 | Bar | 82.20% |
| 7 | Dance Club | 81.90% |
| 8 | Chiropractor Office | 80.69% |
| 9 | Pet Boarding Facility | 80.50% |
| 10 | Home Improvement Store | 80.49% |
#1-5: Highest Survivability in Richmond
- Veterinary Clinic is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in Richmond: 85.30% chance on average, best at ~89%, challenging at ~81%.
- Salad Shop: ~76% to ~85% survivability range, with an average of 82.11% across Richmond.
- Opening a Chicken Shop in Richmond shows 81.10% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~76%.
- Mexican Restaurant (Ranked #4): 81.01% average in Richmond. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~77%.
- Smoke Shop is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in Richmond: 80.50% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~73%.
#6-10: Strong Performers in Richmond
- Bar: ~75% to ~83% survivability range, with an average of 79.80% across Richmond.
- Opening a Dance Club in Richmond shows 79.30% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~71%.
- Chiropractor Office (Ranked #8): 77.99% average in Richmond. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~74%.
- Pet Boarding Facility is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Richmond: 77.80% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~71%.
- Home Improvement Store: ~64% to ~83% survivability range, with an average of 74.00% across Richmond.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
- Salad Shop: See how this compares to other cities →
- Chicken Shop: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Richmond make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, choosing a high-performing site for your concept in Richmond could lead to you making ~10% more than if you selected an average location, and ~27% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- Site-specific factors can dramatically alter outcomes even within the same neighborhood.
- Location is the part of survivability you can measure in advance: the concept, the pricing and the operator are yours to judge.
- Choosing locations with superior Survivability Scores directly correlates with higher revenue potential.
- StreetSpring gives you a precise survivability probability for any specific address and business type combination, not a generalized estimate.
What businesses should open next in Richmond?
The top businesses to open next in Richmond:
- Veterinary Clinics: 85.30% average survival rate, ~89% at the best address
- Salad Shops: 82.11% average survival rate
- Chicken Shops: 81.10% average survival rate
The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. Our analysis covers every major metro in the country: 24 cities and 180 million++ consumers. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool. The survivability rankings for Richmond are grounded in real economic conditions: 93.7% employment and 9.8% vacancy are among the key inputs that separate high-scoring locations from low-scoring ones here. These rankings are a snapshot; StreetSpring recalculates survivability for every location in Richmond weekly, incorporating the latest competitive openings, closures, and spending data: check current locations now.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the Philadelphia Business Survivability Rankings
- See the Philadelphia Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Veterinary Clinic survivability across Philadelphia neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Richmond.
What type of business should you rent your Richmond storefront to?
Our 2026 survivability data for Richmond shows that Veterinary Clinics, Salad Shops, and Chicken Shops rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.
- Location is the part of survivability you can measure in advance: the concept, the pricing and the operator are yours to judge.
- StreetSpring gives you a precise survivability probability for any specific address and business type combination, not a generalized estimate. StreetSpring's tool, free for a 10-minute trial, lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in Richmond: a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Philadelphia Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Richmond storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
Yes, our 2026 model places a Veterinary Clinic at the top of the survivability rankings for Richmond storefronts, with a best-case score of ~89% and a floor of ~81% at the most challenging addresses.
- StreetSpring gives you a precise survivability probability for any specific address and business type combination, not a generalized estimate.
What should I consider when opening a business in Richmond?
When selecting a location in Richmond it is crucial to select a location with a very high Survivability Score.
- High Revenue Capture Score is the clearest signal that a location can sustain a business over the long term.
- No third-party scoring system produces these results: every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
- Check StreetSpring's current survivability data for any address in Richmond, starting with a free 10-minute trial.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring's AI platform has studied businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans, giving its predictions a scale of validation unmatched in site-selection tools. Aggregated survivability rankings for Philadelphia are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for Philadelphia: /resources/data/philadelphia-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.