The main choices are stone or ceramic tiles, wood or a laminate, linoleum or carpet.The pros and cons are as follows:
◆ Tiles are long lasting, and easy to clean. It is a lengthy job to lay them. They can be noisy to walk on.
◆ Wood is very trendy but scratches and I would not want to own one should stiletto heels come back into fashion. Noise can be an issue.
◆ Lino style floors are to be expected in a supermarket but cheap and down market in most other shops.
◆ Carpets are quick and easy to lay. Cheap carpet will wear out quickly so it is worth spending more for industrial quality. Carpet tiles have the added advantage of being easy to move around, enabling worn or stained areas to be swapped or replaced individually. The downside is chewing gum, which is frequently trodden into my carpets and is difficult to remove.
The deciding factor for me is that things are always being dropped in a shop, whether by customers or staff. Carpet, being soft, means fewer breakages. A classic mistake that new business owners make is to over-do the refitting of their premises. The ultimate in this is taking up a perfectly serviceable floor covering and replacing it with a carpet that has been specially woven to incorporate the name of the premises.
One of my shops was fitted out with carpet tiles when I took it over. They did not fit to the wall, however, as they had been cut to go around previous shop fixtures. Did I put down a new carpet? Not when there was a supply of half-price carpet tiles to be had at the local DIY store. The new ones were brown; the original ones were blue – but who noticed!
Another carpet that I inherited when I took on a lease had been very worn where the previous counter had been. I moved the counter and these patches were exposed for all to see. Did I replace the carpet? Not likely. A subtle application of carpet tape kept the worn part in check as a temporary measure until the shop had earned enough to afford a new carpet.
Both the mismatched tiles and the tape were still in place when I sold the shops many years later. Had they affected sales in the meantime? Not in the least. Did they prevent the sale of the businesses? Clearly not!
Sundries
Price labels, clothes hangers, paper bags and other sundries can be sourced locally through Yellow Pages or The Trader. If there are no local suppliers, then buy mail order from a company like Morplan.
There are a number of shop-fitting suppliers which you can visit in Commercial Road, in London’s East End.This is a centre for the rag trade, with numerous clothing wholesalers supplying to small retailers and market traders.
