Visit Our Showroom

Here at Shelving4Shops, we're very proud of our showroom, which we believe can help you see exactly how your shop will work with our shelving units and fixtures. We know that it can be a struggle to visualise a layout that appeals to customers and to develop it, without being able to actually see what the possibilities are, so our showroom can help you do just that and will allow you to choose exactly the right racking units and the best shelving for your retail space.

Our showroom in Leicestershire has a wide variety of different shelving units and styles, in various heights and depths, to show you how units can be used and arranged. Height and depth are crucial elements to get right when fitting out a shop, as getting it wrong can result in a store that feels cramped and small. It can also result in products going becoming hidden, so that customer's miss them when browsing your shelves. You also don't want anything that is too tall, especially in small stores, as it can hide your customers and potentially pose a security threat in terms of shoplifting.

We also have a wide range of racking which is easily integrated into your current layout and is ideal for adding a new, uplift to your store, especially if you're on a tight budget. If you're struggling to find the right fittings or you want to look at our range and get some advice, simply pop in for a chat and we'll always be happy to give you some expert advice on kitting out your shop.

Optimise Your Layout

The layout of a store should be strategically designed to maximise the space for your customers and display of your products. When deciding how to lay out your store, there are a few things to consider, such as how big your store is and what products you sell, to make sure your layout is optimised for maximum profit.

When designing your layout, make sure you consider the possibilities of how you can align units and fixtures. There are a few floor plans you can follow, dependent on what genre of business yours is. A straight floor plan works well in larger retail stores, where the units are lined in straight lines to give a constant flow of traffic up and down the aisles. A diagonal floor plan is better for smaller stores, giving a better over view of merchandise and customer behaviour. It creates more of an illusion of space, while still making sure the traffic flows smoothly through the shop. You can have a mix of the above two plans, using straight, diagonal and angular floor plans, which means that you can utilise any awkwardly shaped parts of the store while keeping the customer traffic flowing.

Product placement is also a key strategy to consider, as placing products that are in high demand in an area of low traffic will encourage customers to peruse your aisles. Place your most appealing or affordable products at the end of aisles, to encourage in wary customers. Make sure your till area is central or at the front of a store, so that the first thing customers see is your warm, friendly staff and exciting, affordable products. Let us help you with your design @shelving4shops.co.uk.

Spruce Up Your Shop For Spring

We're glad to say it's finally time to think about sprucing up your shop for spring! After what always seems like a never-ending winter, we're glad that spring is just around the corner and we hope it brings warm weather and good sales to everyone.

So how are you planning to brighten up your store to match the season? It's a great opportunity to take a look at your store lay out and make some changes to encourage your customers along your aisles. Why not create some fresh displays to give your customer's something new to looks at, focusing on a new product or a new range? People will want to see new items when they're browsing your shops to give their experience more interest and excitement- if they are just going to see the same thing each time they come in, the experience dulls.

Use spring holidays to advertise your products. Easter is a big spring celebration that's worth using to advertise any Easter or spring-related products. Spruce up your shelves with new design, new colours and new ideas to grab your customer's attention and you'll find people flocking down your aisles to see what you have to offer.

Pegboards are very versatile displays that you can easily change around and use to set up new promotions without an enormous upheaval. Think about using spring colours to really bright up your store, and consider moving some of your units or shelving to give customer's a different path through your store.

Make the most of a small space

Having a small store can present many problems when trying to set up your business. Here are a few tips for maximising the space you have and really getting the most of out of displays, whilst keeping your costs down.

1. Paint an accent wall in a bold colour, this will not only brighten up your store but will make the store look bigger. You could also use eye-catching wallpaper with striking prints to make a feature wall and mix up textures to create interest. 

2. Think vertically! Customer's really engage with products displayed on various levels and at different heights. Use a collection of our different shelving units to create displays of varying heights, drawing the eye upwards, which will give the feel of your store being more spacious. 

3. Use lighting creatively! Lighting is so important, especially in small spaces, as they often have dark corners that can end up making your store look pokey and unappealing. Light up those corners, otherwise the space is as good as lost. 

4. Use your shelves effectively, this means making sure they don't look cluttered. Arrange your products so that customer's get the best view of them. If they're awkward items, consider using our shelf dividers to gather them together and make sure different products don't mix together, otherwise the shelf may look a bit chaotic. It may be worth using wire stacking baskets as a great way to promote impulse buys of bulk items, making them easy to pick up at the last minute.

The Versatility Of The Wire Basket!

In the world of retail, there are so many options of how to display your products that it's easy to feel overwhelmed with it all when it comes down to actually having to choose. One of the main things to bear in mind is to maximise the use of space and make sure your store doesn't look cluttered. 

If you have lots of loose items that need to go somewhere together without spilling out onto other product space, wire baskets are a great way to go. Coming in either three tier or five tier, the wire basket units are ideal for items such as single crisp packets, fruit and veg or loose toys such as balls. They are great for display, presenting the customer with an easy, eye-catching view of the product, whilst keeping the items neatly gathered together. The unit is lightweight and easily moved, making them great for temporary or window displays. The stack is a simple way to use different heights to create interest at different levels, which is a great way to attract customer attention whilst saving space! 

If you want just the baskets and have space to play with, our wire stackable baskets are another great way of keeping looser items together yet well displayed. These baskets come as individual units, but can be stacked on top of each other or used on existing shelves as a way of keeping the shelf tidy. They are great to use along the queue area to encourage impulse buys while customers are waiting. They are very versatile and are perfect for placing end of line products, promotions or sales items. Great for fruit and veg, special offers or for placing at the end of gondola units to promote that special product.

How To Use Corner Shelving

Corners in shops can tend to be dark, awkward areas that get neglected by customers and shop-owners alike, but they don't have to be!

By using corner shelving, you can really make the most of your shop corners. These units are free standing and are angled to slot into the corner as a continuation of your shelving, leaving you free to put products on the shelves as normal! Available in a range of different sizes, these versatile display units can be used for any products for an effective display. We have a variety of units ranging from 1.8 to 2.1m tall, with base widths from 300mm to 570mm, giving you options of how wide you want the unit and how tall. Depending on your products and customer base, it is worth considering how high you want to place your products and whether you need a wider base to display products that may not sit so well on narrower or higher shelves.

When filling your corner shelves, it's a good idea to put popular, frequently bought items in the corner as it then draws people down your aisles, meaning they are exposed to more of your products and more likely to make impulse purchases as they pass by.  

Be sure to use enough lighting in the corners to make sure your products are well lit, it's no good leaving your products in the dark! Lighting can make all the difference, so use it carefully and illuminate those products to get them flying off the shelves. 

Your Store Decor

Decorating a store is very, very individual and of course depends on the sort of shop, the sort of products you sell and the size of the premises, not to mention the budget you're on. So when it comes to decorating and dressing up your store, you need to bear in mind your target audience and think creatively. 

For the general shop theme, colours set tone and mood in a shop, so bear in mind the type of atmosphere you want to create. Research colours and effects, for example, red and orange in a food shop can promote a feeling of hunger, whereas pastel hues and whites can be calming and relaxing, which is ideal in a shop selling bath salts and spa products. Spend time considering the mood you want in the store and carefully select your colour scheme. 

Creating eye catching displays are a great way of drawing a customer's attention to a product that otherwise they would have glossed over. Such displays need a clever use of colour (but not too many different ones) otherwise the overall look will be tacky and childish (unless, of course, you are advertising children's products!). So pick your colours carefully and use them to brighten your shop and create focus points to attract customers to a particular promotion or sale. 

The good thing about our units at Shelving4Shops is that they are versatile and re-usable, so you can rework it each time you need a new display. Pegboards are fantastic for promotions as they are so easy to work with and are quick to amend or rearrange when you need to change over a product or advertise a special deal. They are also ideal for hanging items, such as necklaces or signs, for example, and give a bigger space to create really eye catching displays. Don't forget the minor details either, such as the finishing touches. Whether it's a particular piece of artwork behind the counter or a bowl of sweets for customers to help themselves to, it's the small touches will get your store remembered.