What trades here, and what each format costs
| Category | Typical size | ₹ per sq ft | The item that drives the budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bakery, sweets and mithai | 800 – 2,000 sq ft | ₹2,000 – 2,600 | Production area: exhaust, gas, drainage and cold storage |
| Café and casual dining | 900 – 2,500 sq ft | ₹1,900 – 2,500 | Kitchen ventilation and the acoustic ceiling under the flats |
| Salon and grooming | 600 – 1,800 sq ft | ₹1,700 – 2,300 | Wet stations, water heating and extraction |
| Clinic and diagnostics | 700 – 2,500 sq ft | ₹1,800 – 2,450 | Separated circulation, drainage, equipment power and loading |
| Apparel and general retail | 400 – 1,500 sq ft | ₹1,450 – 1,950 | Shopfront, display lighting and stock storage |
| Coaching premises | 1,000 – 3,500 sq ft | ₹1,450 – 1,850 | Acoustic separation between classrooms |
Ex-GST. Excludes kitchen, salon and medical equipment, and any statutory licences.
The repeat-custom high street, and what it asks for
A Chembur customer visiting a bakery twice a week for six years is a different design brief from a mall customer visiting twice a year. The premium goes on things that survive that frequency: a counter edge that still looks right after two hundred thousand transactions, a floor that takes daily wet mopping without lifting, lighting that flatters product at 7am and at 9pm, and a queueing arrangement that works when eleven people arrive at once on a Sunday morning. What it does not need is a statement shopfront or a concept that will look dated in three years. We push clients here toward materials with a long second life — terrazzo, solid surface, powder-coated steel, good tile — and away from anything textured that will hold the dust this suburb produces.
Twice a week, for six years
Worked example: 1,500 sq ft bakery and café, Central Avenue
A ground-floor unit under a residential building. A retail counter and display at the front, thirty covers in the middle, and a production kitchen with an oven bank at the back. The landlord provides a bare shell with water and a three-phase supply.
| Scope | ₹ lakh | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Strip-out, protection and hoarding | 0.90 | Previous tenant's works removed; pavement hoarding |
| Civil, drainage and waterproofing | 2.40 | Kitchen falls, interceptor pit, full tanking to wet areas |
| Production kitchen — civil, exhaust and gas | 7.30 | Exhaust routed to terrace with the society's consent; gas bank and manifold |
| Display counters and joinery | 7.60 | Refrigerated and ambient display, cash counter, seating, shelving |
| Flooring | 1.80 | Porcelain to the front, non-slip to production, coved skirting throughout |
| Ceiling and lighting | 4.10 | Acoustic ceiling under the flats; display lighting at 3,500 K over the counter |
| Electrical, DB and small power | 2.90 | Sub-DB, oven and refrigeration circuits, dimmable café circuits |
| HVAC and ventilation | 2.10 | Split cooling to the café; make-up air balanced against the kitchen extract |
| Fire detection and suppression | 0.90 | Hood suppression over the oven bank; detection and extinguishers |
| Shopfront and signage | 1.10 | Glazed front with a cleanable sill detail; illuminated fascia |
| Project management and contingency | 0.40 | Against the exhaust consent |
| Total, ex-GST | 31.50 | ₹2,100 per sq ft carpet |
Add 18% GST. The production kitchen and its services are 47% of this contract — a bakery is a small factory with a shop attached, and budgets that treat it as a café are always short.
Two constraints particular to Chembur
- Flats above, in almost every unit. The exhaust route, the plant noise and the delivery hours all go to the society before they go into a drawing. Chembur committees are generally reasonable and generally slow, so we file three to four weeks ahead with a sectional drawing showing the duct route and the attenuation. An oven bank running from 5am under someone's bedroom is a complaint waiting to happen, and the fix is design, not apology.
- Fine particulate on the refinery side. On the Mahul and Vashi Naka side of the suburb, shopfront glazing, external signage and any open display surface accumulate a fine deposit that needs daily cleaning. Specify sealed glazing lines, wipeable sills, closed rather than open display for anything unpackaged, and a sign face that can be cleaned from the ground. It costs nothing to plan and is impossible to retrofit.
Why parking is not the problem people expect
Clients from other suburbs assume Chembur's high street needs customer parking. It mostly does not — the catchment walks, and the units that trade best have no parking at all. What they do need is a kerbside arrangement that lets a two-wheeler delivery rider stop for ninety seconds without blocking the shopfront, because delivery aggregator volume is a third to a half of turnover for most food businesses here. That means the pick-up point is planned as part of the layout: a separate counter position near the door, a holding shelf, and a route that does not cross the seated customers. It is a small design decision with a large effect on how the shop runs at 8pm.
For Chembur as a whole, including its housing and office markets, see interior designers in Chembur. For our commercial process across the city, see commercial interior designers in Mumbai.
Retail and F&B work by Greenbox Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a bakery so much more expensive than a café of the same size?+
Because it is a production facility. Oven bank power, gas, a serious exhaust with make-up air, refrigeration, drainage with an interceptor and non-slip coved flooring — the kitchen and its services are around 47% of the contract. A café reheating and assembling food is perhaps 25%. Budgets that treat the two as equivalent always come up short.
Will the society allow a kitchen exhaust up the building?+
Usually, with a sectional drawing showing the duct route, the cladding and the attenuation, filed three to four weeks ahead. Committees here are reasonable and slow rather than obstructive. The conversation that goes badly is the one that starts after the duct is already fixed to the wall.
Do we need customer parking on Central Avenue?+
Almost never — the catchment walks. What you do need is a workable kerbside pick-up arrangement for delivery riders, because aggregator orders are a third to a half of turnover for most food businesses here. Plan the pick-up counter and the rider's route into the layout rather than improvising it after opening.
What finishes survive the dust on the refinery side?+
Sealed glazing lines, wipeable sills, solid surface and terrazzo rather than textured or open-grain materials, and closed display for anything unpackaged. Sign faces should be cleanable from ground level. None of it costs more at the outset and all of it saves an hour of staff time every single day.
How long does a Chembur shop fit-out take?+
Ten to thirteen weeks for a bakery or café with a production kitchen; six to eight for dry retail. The variable is the society consent for the exhaust and the licensing file, both of which we start at design freeze rather than at the end of construction.