Shops that make people stop, and then come in.
Store concepts, pop ups and refits. We design the shop, build it and fit it out, so the frontage, the layout and the fixtures are decided together rather than bolted on to each other.
A shop has about four seconds to do its job.
That is roughly how long somebody spends deciding whether to come in, and almost all of it is spent on the frontage and the first two metres inside the door. Everything after that is about keeping them moving: where the eye goes, where the hands go, how they get to the counter and whether the queue blocks the door on a Saturday. It is a layout problem dressed up as a design problem, and the design only works once the layout does.
We have designed a pop up concept store in Mayfair for the footwear brand Mallet, a store concept for Leah Bakes in Doncaster, and the shopfront and interior for Burrito Picante in Sheffield. Three very different units, the same question underneath.
From concept to the day you open the door.
Four things a shop project needs, and we do all four rather than handing you between three firms.
What the shop is, who it is for and what somebody should feel walking past it. Fascia, signage, materials and the point of view the whole thing hangs off. On a pop up that has to land in a week rather than a season.
Identity and brand · Fascia and signage · Material direction · Graphics
Circulation, sightlines, where the stock goes and where the till goes. How many people can be in there at once without it feeling either empty or blocked, and where somebody stands while they wait.
Circulation · Fixture layout · Counter and queue · Stock and back of house
Photorealistic visuals so you can walk the shop before it exists, then the drawings and specification a fitter can price and work from. Joinery, fixtures, lighting and finishes all specified rather than chosen on site.
Concept design · 3D visualisation · Technical drawings · Specification
The fit out itself. Shopfront, flooring, lighting, joinery and fixtures, with the trades contracted by us and one invoice at the end. Retail runs to a tighter programme than an office, because every closed day costs takings.
Shopfront · Joinery and fixtures · Lighting · Install
The programme matters more on a shop than the specification does.
On an office, a week either way is an inconvenience. On a shop it is a week of takings, and on a seasonal business it can be the week that pays for the quarter. So a retail programme gets written backwards from the day you need to be trading, we say early if the date and the scope disagree, and where it can be phased around opening hours we tell you what that costs before you decide.
Shops we have designed.
Frequently asked questions about shop fit out.
Do you work on small independent shops?
Yes, and most of what we do is that size. Our median workplace project is under ten thousand pounds and the same is true of retail: one unit, one frontage, one decision maker. A single room is a job we will happily take.
Can you do the branding as well as the shop?
Yes, and it usually works better that way. On the bakery in Doncaster and on New Shoots Coffee Shop in Sheffield the identity and the interior were designed as one thing rather than as three, so the fascia, the signage and the room agreed with each other.
How long will we be closed?
It depends on how much of the unit changes, and nobody can give you a date before they have stood in it. What we will do is write the programme backwards from your opening date, tell you which parts can run around trading, and say early if the date and the scope do not agree.
Do you work outside Yorkshire?
Yes. Most of our work is across South Yorkshire, and we have delivered a pop up in Mayfair and a five site roll out from Norwich to Cobham for a quick serve brand.
Taking a unit, or changing one?
Tell us where it is and when you need to be trading. The first conversation is free and there is no obligation after it.
Discuss your project