Hi Mehak,
I am going with your original idea of "specific nomenclature for the repository item name to determine the type of trade area or add any metadata as part of the feature's attributes."
<itemname>~<tradeareatype>~<position>~<date>
Bear,DE~SIMPLE_RINGS~10~04.20.2011
I am using the position to sort the sites in the descending order. It is working great. Date is just for display purposes.