Retail categories and what each one costs
| Category | Typical size | ₹ per sq ft | What the money buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jewellery | 800 – 2,500 sq ft | ₹2,050 – 2,450 | Strong room, security systems, display lighting, seated selling |
| Bridal, saree and apparel | 1,200 – 4,000 sq ft | ₹1,800 – 2,300 | Seated display counters, stock walls, trial and styling rooms |
| Furnishings and home | 1,500 – 5,000 sq ft | ₹1,600 – 2,100 | Vignette display, lighting quality, long frontage |
| Sweets, bakery and restaurant | 700 – 2,500 sq ft | ₹1,750 – 2,350 | Production area, exhaust, drainage and counter queue |
| Clinic and diagnostics | 800 – 3,000 sq ft | ₹1,800 – 2,400 | Regulated finishes, drainage, equipment loads |
| General retail and services | 300 – 1,200 sq ft | ₹1,400 – 1,850 | Shopfront, counter and stock storage |
Ex-GST. Excludes stock, equipment, safes and monitored alarm subscriptions.
Selling seated, and what it does to a plan
In jewellery, bridal wear and furnishings the transaction happens at a counter with the customer seated, often for an hour, often as a family of four or five. That is not a retail layout, it is closer to a series of small meeting rooms with merchandise. The practical consequences: counters are spaced for a family group rather than an individual, with 1,500 mm between positions rather than 900; sightlines from each seat should not look directly at another transaction; there is a private room for the largest purchases; the lighting over the counter has to render metal and stone accurately, which means a high colour rendering index and a controlled beam rather than general brightness; and staff circulation runs behind the counters, never through the customer side.
Sold seated, over an hour, to a family of five
Worked example: 1,600 sq ft jewellery showroom, Mulund West
A ground-floor unit on a market lane off Zaver Road. Six seated selling counters, a private room, a strong room, a small workshop and a staff area. Family business, second generation, moving from a 700 square foot shop two doors down.
| Scope | ₹ lakh | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Strip-out and protection | 0.70 | Previous fit-out removed; shutter line and pavement protected |
| Civil, strong room and security shell | 5.40 | Reinforced strong room, structural backing to the safe, secure staff route |
| Shopfront, glazing and shutters | 4.80 | Laminated glazing, internal grille line, roller shutters with a monitored contact |
| Display joinery, counters and seating | 12.60 | Six counters at 1,500 mm spacing, private room, display walls |
| Flooring | 2.20 | Stone with a brass inlay line defining the customer side |
| Ceiling and lighting | 5.90 | High colour rendering display lighting, controlled beam angles over each counter |
| Electrical, DB and UPS | 2.70 | Sub-DB, UPS to the lighting and security systems, clean earth |
| Air conditioning | 1.80 | Ducted split system, quiet at the counters |
| Security systems — CCTV, alarm, access control | 1.20 | Camera coverage with retention, monitored alarm, access-controlled rear route |
| Signage | 0.20 | Illuminated fascia within the permitted projection |
| Project management and contingency | 0.10 | Short programme, single point of contact |
| Total, ex-GST | 37.60 | ₹2,350 per sq ft carpet |
Add 18% GST. Excludes the safe itself, the monitored alarm subscription and stock insurance requirements, all of which the insurer will specify.
Two constraints on any Mulund commercial job
- Access is from the internal lanes. The Eastern Express Highway service roads permit no unloading, and the LBS Marg frontages are reached from behind. A delivery driver who does not know the route loses an hour. We issue a routed map with every delivery, which sounds trivial until you have lost a crane slot to it.
- Residential above, in nearly every unit. Market-lane shops and LBS Marg podium units both sit under flats. Noisy work runs in an agreed weekday window, and anything involving core drilling into a transfer slab needs the developer's written consent as well as the society's. For a restaurant, the exhaust route to terrace level has to be agreed before the lease is signed, not after.
What the insurer will ask for
On a high-value retail fit-out, the specification is partly written by your insurer and it is better to know that at design stage. Typically they will want: a strong room or safe of a stated grade with structural backing rather than a cabinet bolted to a floor; laminated rather than toughened glazing at the frontage; an internal grille or shutter line behind the glass; CCTV with a defined retention period and coverage of every counter and the strong-room door; a monitored alarm on a separate communication path; and access control on the staff route. Building those in from the start costs around 20% over general retail. Adding them after the insurer's survey means opening finished walls, and we have done that job more than once.
For the suburb as a whole, including housing and offices, see interior designers in Mulund. For our commercial process across the city, see commercial interior designers in Mumbai.
Showroom work by Greenbox Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
What does a jewellery security shell cost?+
Around 20% over a general retail fit-out. That covers a reinforced strong room with structural backing, laminated glazing with an internal grille line, monitored shutters, CCTV with retention across every counter, an alarm on a separate communication path and access control on the staff route. The safe itself and the alarm subscription are separate.
How far apart should seated selling counters be?+
Around 1,500 mm between positions, against 900 mm for a standing retail counter. Customers arrive as families of four or five and stay for an hour. Cramming in a seventh counter reduces what the other six can do, and in practice reduces turnover rather than increasing it.
What lighting do jewellery and saree displays need?+
High colour rendering — 95 or above — with controlled beam angles over each counter and a warm-neutral colour temperature that renders both gold and stones honestly. General bright ambient light flattens everything. It is a specification decision, not a fitting-brand decision, and it deserves a mock-up before the order is placed.
Can we run a restaurant in a Mulund market-lane unit?+
Yes, provided the exhaust can reach terrace level with the society's consent and the drainage can take a kitchen. Both need settling before the lease is signed. In practice the exhaust route is the deciding factor, and it is a question the landlord will not raise for you.
How long does a showroom fit-out take here?+
Eight to eleven weeks for 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. The long-lead items are the strong room, the glazing and the display lighting rather than the construction. Where the insurer's requirements arrive late, add two weeks — which is why we ask for them at the first meeting.