Independent trade publication
Store Floor
Numbers for the selling floor. Real costs, load ratings, and timelines for anyone fixturing or building out a retail space in the US — not manufacturer marketing.
How the site is organized
Six sections, one job each. Pick the lane that matches what you need today — then follow the reading path if you want the full arc.
- GuidesOpen →
How-tos and buyer’s guides: fixtures, walls, layout, compliance, merchandising. Specs and tradeoffs — not vendor pitch decks.
Retailers, store planners, GCs
- CostsOpen →
Dated $/sf and fixture price ranges with the assumptions attached. Not “contact us for a quote.”
Owners budgeting a buildout
- Case studiesOpen →
Budgets and timelines with overruns left in — modeled benchmarks and documented projects.
Anyone comparing a plan to reality
- ReportsOpen →
Original data and market signals — free to cite with attribution.
Operators watching the market
- TemplatesOpen →
Working Excel and PDF files. No email gate.
People writing an RFQ or walking a punch list
- GlossaryOpen →
US and UK fixture terms defined plainly, with cross-links into the guides.
Anyone reading quotes or UK-written advice
First four pieces in the path
Foundations before fixtures. Live titles link through; the rest open as they publish — the full order lives on Start here.
- 1What Is Shopfitting? A US Translation Guide
US vocabulary map if you landed on UK or Australian terms.
- 2Complete retail store buildout guide
Lease to opening — the decisions that blow the budget.Opens with the guide library.
- 3What a retail buildout actually costs
Cost ranges with assumptions, not a contact form.Opens with the guide library.
- 4Slatwall 101
Panels, ratings, and when slatwall is the wrong choice.Opens with the guide library.
Templates you can use today
Working files — not lead magnets. Download straight from here or browse the full set.
Fixture RFQ
Same questions for every supplier — item schedule, load ratings, commercial returns.
Buildout budget
Nine cost sections plus forgotten lines: freight, install, dumpsters, TI tracker.
Punch list
Room-by-room snagging with severity, trade, and sign-off for GC walks.
Load reference card
One-page PDF: anchors by substrate and common slatwall failure modes.
From the glossary
Six terms that show up in every quote and shop drawing. Full glossary on the next page.
- Bay
- One section of a fixture run between two uprights, typically 36" or 48" wide. Floors are usually planned in bays.
- Decompression zone
- The first 5–15 feet inside the entrance. Customers adjust here and largely don’t see merchandise — don’t put must-sell product in it.
- Buildout
- US term for turning a bare or existing space into a finished trading store. UK/AU speakers usually say shopfitting.
- Cash wrap
- Checkout counter assembly: transaction surface, POS, bagging, impulse merchandising, and usually returns.
- Cap (end cap)
- Display at the end of a gondola run — highest-traffic, highest-value position on most floors.
- CRI
- Color Rendering Index, 0–100. Apparel and cosmetics want 90+ so product color reads true on the floor.
Latest from the desk
Browse guides →Primary sources we cite
Outbound links to codes and institutions — not fixture catalogs. Full list on the sources page.
- ADA / Access BoardAisle widths, counters, fitting rooms
- ICC codesBuilding and fire code context
- BLS / FREDFixture PPI and construction inflation
- Cushman & WakefieldUS retail fit-out cost guides
How we work
Independent editorial. We cite primary sources, disclose commercial relationships, and do not sell rankings or placement. Claims are labelled by type — code, manufacturer spec, measured, or practitioner estimate.