Retail Remodeling

What the store needs to do better

A shop owner usually knows exactly what bothers them about the store. Customers never find the back half. The checkout line blocks the entrance. The fitting rooms are cramped, or the lighting makes the merchandise look flat. Steve walks the store with the owner during business hours, watches where customers go and where they stop, and takes notes on what the owner would change if the store were empty for a month.

Sightlines drive a lot of retail decisions. From the front door, a customer should see enough of the store to want to walk in further, and staff at the counter should be able to see the floor. Tall fixtures, a misplaced wall or a counter in the wrong spot can undo both. We talk through what the owner wants seen first and plan the layout around it.

From there you get a written scope listing every piece of the remodel and how it will be phased while the store keeps trading.

Owners also tell us what they cannot do without during the work: the register, the stockroom door, the display that sells the most. Those set the phasing more than anything on the drawings, and we plan around them.

Fixtures, counters and fitting rooms

Fixtures and counters are what customers touch, so they have to be built to take it. Checkout counters get hard-wearing tops and edges, and the cabinetry underneath has to fit the register, bags and whatever else staff keep within reach. We work out heights and depths with the people who actually stand there all day.

Fitting rooms need privacy, good light, a mirror that is honest, hooks, a bench and enough room to turn around. When a store provides fitting rooms, at least one has to be accessible under the ADA, and 521 CMR applies in Massachusetts as well. The same rules reach the checkout counter height and the routes between fixtures, so we plan them in from the first sketch.

Retail fixtures are often supplied by a vendor or a brand. When they are, we coordinate the blocking in the walls, the power locations and the installation dates, so the fixtures go where they belong the first time.

Lighting is often the most noticeable change in a retail remodel. New track or display lighting can make the same merchandise look better without moving a single fixture. Licensed electricians do that work under their own permits, and we coordinate the ceiling and wall work around them, usually overnight.

If you are opening a new store in an empty unit, our retail build-out page covers that.

Working nights so the doors stay open

A store that closes loses sales, and sometimes loses customers for good. So most retail remodeling happens after closing, before opening or on days the owner picks. Noisy and dusty work goes to those hours. During business hours, the work area sits behind a clean temporary wall, and customers see a store with one section being updated.

The store is cleaned before it opens each morning. Floors are swept, debris is out and nothing is left where a customer could trip on it. Merchandise near the work is covered, or moved by the owner's staff the night before.

Phases are planned so the sales floor never loses too much at once. A typical order might start in the back of house, move through the floor one section at a time, and save the entrance and checkout for last, once everything else is ready.

Deliveries, dumpsters and parking need a plan too. Materials arrive and debris leaves at times that do not block the entrance or the customer lot, and in a plaza we follow the landlord's rules for where trucks and containers can sit.

Floors, walls and finishes that take the traffic

Retail floors take more wear than almost anything we build. Entry areas see sand and road salt all winter, and the flooring at the door has to handle that without turning slick when it is wet. We talk through flooring that holds up at the door, in the aisles and behind the counter, and install it in sections so the store stays open.

Walls in a store do more than divide space. Slatwall, display shelving and wall-mounted fixtures need solid backing, and older buildings sometimes have plaster or brick that has to be prepared before anything can hang from it. We check what is behind the walls before the fixture layout is final.

Finishes are chosen with cleaning in mind. Paint that can be wiped down, corner guards where carts and stock trucks pass, and base that survives a mop every night keep a store looking cared for long after the remodel. We help the owner choose those surfaces with the staff who clean them, since they know where the wear shows first.

Permits, landlords and your updates

Not every retail refresh needs a permit, but most remodels that move walls, change lighting, add fitting rooms or touch plumbing do, and some need drawings from a registered architect or engineer. In a shopping center or a leased storefront, the landlord usually has to approve the plans as well, and the storefront may have its own rules. We handle the paperwork and schedule inspections for framing, the licensed trades and the final at times that keep the store open. Signage on the building or the storefront glass often has its own permit and may go to a sign or design review in some towns, so we raise it early if the remodel includes a new sign.

You hear from Steve directly. On a retail job you get updates on what was done overnight and what is planned next, and you hear about any problem as soon as it shows up. Every change is priced and approved in writing before work goes ahead.

If you are opening a new store in an empty unit, our retail build-out page covers that. Modern Remodeling remodels stores within about a hundred miles of Raynham. To talk about your store, call (781) 974-4263.

See the rest of our commercial work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.