Feng shui tips for your commercial property
Property Observer recently spoke to Feng shui master Yu Gui Feng for tips on making your home feng shui-friendly. He told us that the feng shui elements for commercial properties are quite different.
There are certain elements associated with feng shui – wood, fire, earth metal, and water. Each of them carries a different energy that could be beneficial or harmful, depending on the surrounding energy of the property and its owners.
“For residential properties, you want to built it on flat ground or on the higher side of the road. But for commercial property, we don’t like it to be on top of a hill. We like it to be somewhere on the lower side of the road, or near the bottom of the landscape, because that’s where it can accumulate a lot of money energy,” he said.
He went on to explain that feng shui, literally translated, means “wind” and “water” in Mandarin. Water symbolises prosperity.
“Human bodies are made up of 70% water. A commercial property needs customers. Water energy flows downhill. That’s why a shop or a commercial building should be on the lower side of a road,” he said.
For shops, he advises that there is no “ideal” orientation. However, certain elements need to be closely aligned with the product.
“For example, if you are in the food industry, the prime energy is earth energy. A good colour for earth energy is a yellowish colour. Look at the world’s largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s. Its dominant colour is yellow, and resonate’s with the industry’s energy,” he said.
“For a commercial property, we also need to look at the logo, the business name, how many letters, the logo’s colours, and signage. Of course the internal layout and design matters too,” he added.
Good layouts for shops include rectangular and square shapes. Ideally, the front entrance should be narrower than the back, like a bottle.
“This is to accumulate money energy. Money energy goes in every busy shop, in one way or another,” he said.
He also noted that commercial property owners should avoid purchasing properties where the front and back doors directly face each other.
“It is very hard to make a sound investment with this type of property,” Master Feng said.
Additionally, a commercial building’s surroundings is very important. If there are any buildings in its vicinity that have sharp corners and reflect light, that could cause problems for your business.
Similar to a residential property, the front entrance of a commercial building is important.
“It can influence the entire building’s money return. You need to look at the landscape and surrounding buildings to create an appropriate entrance. Once you walk into the entrance of a commercial property, the entrance or lobby area needs to have two conditions: One is light. One is space,” he said.
He added that buildings with a reception area should place the reception as close to the front entrance as possible.
As for colour schemes, he suggests avoiding the colour black. Exceptions to the rule include nightclubs, bottle shops, and adult shops.
Lastly, Master Feng said that feng shui is only one-third of the overall plan to turn a business around.
“It’s about the right time, right person, right place,” he said. “These include opportunities, your personal effort, the product and the services. The energy of the place, that has got to do with feng shui.”