Shopfitters in London: retail units fitted out to a brand package

Shopfitters turn an empty or previously occupied retail unit into a trading store. In practice that means strip-out, partitions, ceilings, floors, electrical and data installation, lighting, joinery for counters, display and fitting rooms, back of house, then shopfront glazing and signage. A shopfitter also manages the landlord approvals, the permits and the programme, which is most of the work on a unit inside a trading centre, and hands over a certified, clean unit ready for merchandising.

Very little in practice; the words come from different sides of the trade. Shopfitting is the older term and leans towards the joinery and display side, the counters, wall bays and shopfront a store is recognised by. Retail fit-out is the contractor's term for the whole job, from strip-out and services to signage and handover. A firm that offers one will normally do the other, and the useful question is who does the joinery and who manages the programme.

It is priced per unit, from the approved design package and a survey of what has actually been handed over. The main variables are the unit size, how much of the previous fit-out is removed, the services scope, the joinery specification, and whether the shopfront is new. Give us the demise drawings and the brand pack and we will price against them in writing; a firm figure follows a site visit.

Programmes inside a trading centre are counted in working shifts rather than weeks, because where the centre only allows work out of hours the access window is only part of each night. The number of shifts depends on unit size, the strip-out scope and the landlord's regime. We programme each unit individually and show what is complete at the end of each shift, rather than quoting a standard duration.

Yes, where the centre requires it. The crew works to the centre's out-of-hours access, with a permit to work each night, agreed noise limits, booked dock and goods lift slots, and hoarding that stays presentable to shoppers. The unit is left safe, screened and clean before the centre opens each morning, and waste leaves during the same window rather than being stacked in the mall.

Pop Mart, at the Trafford Centre, in Manchester city centre and in Oxford; HEYTEA, the tea shop on Parker Street in Liverpool; Vibean Coffee in Manchester; and Herono on Brick Lane in London. We also carried out service works at the Sexy Fish restaurant in Mayfair. Each is in our projects section with photographs of the unit as built. Rollout work for one brand across several cities suits us because the design pack is fixed and the crew already knows it.

Yes, and we start by reconciling it with the unit. We survey what has been handed over, compare it against the design pack and the landlord's demise drawings, and issue a written list of deviations before pricing. That list is what protects the opening date, because the differences between the drawing and the unit are where retail programmes usually fail.

Yes: shopfront glazing, entrance doors, security shutters, fascia panels and illuminated signage. Most signs on business premises have deemed advertisement consent within size, height and illumination limits; outside them, and often in a conservation area or on a listed building, express consent from the borough is needed and listed building consent may apply (gov.uk, Outdoor advertisements and signs, checked September 2026; confirm with your borough). We apply for consent as part of the approvals package rather than fitting first and asking afterwards.

Retail units, restaurants, cafés and coffee shops, bars, clinics and dental practices, beauty salons, gyms and offices. The construction differs, but the constraints repeat: a landlord's fit-out guide, an opening date, often out-of-hours access, and services that have to be commissioned and certified before anyone trades. Each sector adds its own regulations, which is why we price those separately rather than assuming a standard scope.

For brand rollouts, yes. Where a client is opening several stores to one design, we have delivered units in Manchester, Liverpool and Oxford as well as London. Rollout work suits travelling because the design pack is already fixed and the crew already knows it. A one-off project outside London is usually better handled by someone local, and we will say so.