Is your retail store looking worn or outdated? Or perhaps new and trendy competitors have been popping up nearby, putting pressure on your store to modernize.
Whatever the motivation, make sure you get the best possible results from your retail store renovation by keeping these factors in mind.
What are Retail Store Remodeling Options?
A retail remodel can take many shapes. A renovation can include layout changes, store reconfiguration, and even additions. For example, a new fast-casual eatery may create a vibrant space in what was an empty building.
Some retail renovations are purely cosmetic in nature, like adding new flooring, wall treatments, and finishes like murals and mirrored accents. However, no matter the scope, these projects are generally broken into two categories: open renovations and closed renovations.
Open remodels are completed while the store remains open for business. This includes careful safety procedures to be sure construction areas don’t disrupt customers, and sealing off work in progress. Open remodels with more intensive work usually require build teams to work after hours to complete portions of the project while customers are not present.
Closed remodels are the opposite: the store will close for a set period of time to allow work to be completed. These benefit from faster execution, but the tradeoff is lost revenue while the store is closed. These are more ideal for deep renovation projects that require a lot of demolition and structural work.
Depending on your project, you can work with your builder to decide if an open or closed project makes more sense for your business.
Upgrade Your Retail Store Remodeling Project with These 9 Tips
For your retail store renovation, make sure the effort you take for your remodels results in a more attractive store, better customer experience, and exceptional ROI. Here are our top tips to maximize your retail renovation.
1. Evaluate Your Needs with a Structured Analysis
First, you need to set goals. While these can be informed by desired aesthetics and aspirational ideas, it’s important to also conduct a structured analysis to determine what will have the best business impact.
We recommend evaluating your current spaces and noting what’s working and what’s not, and considering how your space can support your business goals. If you own a taphouse and want customers to spend an entire afternoon at your business, ensure you have space for plenty of seating along with areas that groups can claim without taking over the entire dining room.
If you want shoppers to have a quick and easy grocery shopping experience, consider how to design a store with an efficient checkout setup so the time spent in the store can be spent browsing items, not rushing to wait in line.
2. Assess Competitors
As a retail operation, your competitors will all have their own unique spin on their space. We recommend assessing their spaces — not to copy, but to gain a competitive advantage. Is the coffee shop always crowded? Design yours with a generous entryway so people can wait inside.
3. Brainstorm from the Customer Perspective
When planning, it’s easy to think about what you would like, but try to get into your customers’ heads. Endear yourself to your clientele by soliciting feedback via survey or conversation, and take into account their preference. If “buy-online-pickup-in-store” is inconvenient, add a secondary station. Or if they feel that seating is hard to get at happy hour, add a bigger bar with lots of high-top seating.
4. Design with Intention
Once you’ve assessed, evaluated, and gotten feedback, think about the ideal design for how customers will flow through your space. Your architect can help you conduct traffic assessments to see how people truly use the amenities you provide, and gain valuable insight that can help your design become more efficient.
5. Solidify Your Branding
When designing, it’s important to understand how to reflect your brand throughout a physical space. Your retail remodel should bring your brand to life — sometimes that’s with load graphics, bold decor, and your logo splashed on everything. But sometimes it’s subtler, like a tonal color palette incorporating your brand colors and elegant signage for a high-end feel.
As an experienced retail remodeler, Oztan knows how to translate your brand standards into a physical environment for a space that feels unique to you.
6. Choose Curated Details
Part of what makes your store stand apart from the crowd is the details you add during your renovation. For example, this coffee shop preserved the bank vault from the former space, adding a unique look and feel and keeping the character of the building intact. That helps make it feel like a true neighborhood space!
7. Add Innovative Elements to Your Retail Remodel
Tech-enabled stores and hospitality don’t have to be extravagant, but they can complement the customer experience or make your operations run more smoothly. Energy management options like smart HVAC and lighting can adjust your store’s look and feel based on real-time occupancy. Click-and-collect smart lockers can make pickup frictionless for customers. And self-service kiosks can offer an alternative ordering experience that’s quick and easy!
8. Plan for Disruption
No matter what type of retail renovation you opt for, there will be some disruption. You can plan for this by working closely with your build team to nail down delivery timelines, estimated schedules for work completion, and permitting milestones so you can then organize your business operations accordingly.
9. Assemble an Experienced Team
Finally, the best way to upgrade your retail store remodeling project is work with a trusted design and build team. When you have a local partner, they can guide you through every step of the process, provide insight on efficient cost-saving designs, and deliver results that surpass expectations.
Get Started with a Retail Renovation with Oztan Builders
Oztan Studio offers design and comprehensive project management, coordinating the architecture and build process to make your retail renovation easy and efficient. We specialize in office spaces, hospitality, bars, cafes, and other commercial spaces.
Learn more about our retail remodeling capabilities here.
