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I handle the web site for a restaurant. This restaurant, part of a chain, has been around for 20 years and, when it first opened in 1995, the Yellow Pages was where you found such places. Their address is 111 Strip Mall Drive and no one would know where that was so, instead, they list and advertise their address as 200 Main Street and everyone in town would know about where that is.

However, 200 Main street doesn't really exist and, on any street map, is technically the next intersection shortly down the street, though you can see their sign from there. The problem is, I'm betting someone enters 200 Main Street into Google Maps and then complains they can't find it!

We did try "200 Main Street, The Strip Mall" but that still doesn't seem satisfactory and I'd rather show just one address.

So the quandry is over whether it's more important to show the well known 200 Main Street on the web site, cause everyone will know where you are, or to show the actual street address to satisfy online maps like Google Maps.

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  • Why not just show the actual address with google maps there too, so they have a visual reference too? You're saying they wont find it if they input it? Then why not input it yourself and figure out what the address (on google maps) is?
    – Majo0od
    Oct 8, 2015 at 14:31
  • You can show the actual address and under it in a smaller font with an asterisk say this : *address may appear differently on the map, it is a block over........transparency works best
    – Stanley VM
    Oct 8, 2015 at 14:33
  • I would think that today, with the prevalence of smartphones, GPS-enabled maps, and the features of proximity-based apps, you really need to use the real address of the business. On the website you can also say something like "near the intersection of . . ."
    – cmdoc
    Oct 8, 2015 at 14:52

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If '100 Main Street' is part of their brand, then it should probably be part of the visual design of the branding on the site. (Part of the logo).

If you want people who are new to the restaurant (i.e. the entire rest of the world other than long-standing locals of the town) then you want to make it easy for those people to find it.

So, in your Contact Us section, you list the actual address. Because if someone is accessing the 'Contact Us' section of the site it's because they don't already know how to get hold of the place, and therefore need to know the actual location.

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  • 100 Main Street is not part of the brand. It's a well known chain restaurant of which there are many in the area.
    – Rob
    Oct 8, 2015 at 14:35

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