Plan your fixtures
Area and frontage give the wall run. Category sets the aisle share.
How this calculator works
- Depth = area ÷ frontage, assuming a rectangular unit.
- Usable wall run = (2 × depth) + frontage. The shopfront itself is excluded because it is glazing and entry.
- Wall bays = floor(wall run ÷ 4 ft), the standard bay module for a slatted or system wall.
- Wall fixture zone = wall run × 2.5 ft, the depth a wall bay and its browsing space occupy.
- Open floor = selling area − wall zone − till zone, with the till at 30 sq ft per position.
- Floor units = floor(open floor × (1 − aisle share) ÷ 40 sq ft), 40 sq ft being the footprint plus immediate browsing space of a gondola, rack or table.
| Category | Aisle share | Minimum aisle | Units per wall bay | Units per floor fixture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel | 40% | 4.0 ft | 60 | 120 |
| Footwear | 38% | 4.0 ft | 48 | 90 |
| Grocery / convenience | 34% | 3.5 ft | — | 260 |
| Jewellery | 46% | 4.5 ft | — | 40 |
| Electronics | 42% | 4.5 ft | 30 | 70 |
Jewellery carries the highest aisle share and the lowest density because the fixtures are counters that customers stand at rather than browse past. Grocery carries the lowest aisle share because the gondola run is the aisle.
Design and build under one accountable roof
Worked example — an 800 sq ft apparel unit
| Step | Arithmetic | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Depth | 800 ÷ 20 | 40 ft |
| Usable wall run | (2 × 40) + 20 | 100 ft |
| Wall bays | floor(100 ÷ 4) | 25 bays |
| Selling area | 800 × (1 − 0.20) | 640 sq ft |
| Wall fixture zone | 100 × 2.5 | 250 sq ft |
| Till zone | 1 × 30 | 30 sq ft |
| Open floor | 640 − 280 | 360 sq ft |
| Less 40% aisle | 360 × 0.60 | 216 sq ft |
| Floor units | floor(216 ÷ 40) | 5 units |
| Indicative capacity | (25 × 60) + (5 × 120) | ≈ 2,100 units on display |
Density against experience
Every retail brief contains the same tension: the buyer wants more stock on the floor and the designer wants room to walk. The resolution is not a compromise in the middle, it is a decision about what the store is for. A discount format genuinely works at a 34% aisle share with dense gondolas and no vignettes; a premium apparel store at the same density reads as a warehouse and its conversion rate falls.
What is not negotiable is the first ten feet inside the door. Retail research is consistent on this: customers entering a store need a decompression zone where nothing is being sold to them, and a fixture within about ten feet of the entrance is routinely walked past. Keeping that area clear looks like wasted selling space on a plan and is the reason the rest of the floor works.
On Indian specifics: fitting rooms are under-provided in almost every apparel fit-out we are called into. One fitting room per 400 sq ft of apparel selling area is a reasonable floor, and each needs 12 to 15 sq ft plus a queue space. A store that loses customers to a fitting-room queue on Saturday afternoon is losing exactly the sales it was designed to make.
Lighting deserves a line of its own here, because in retail it is not a fit-out afterthought. The merchandise needs accent lighting at roughly three times the ambient level to read as merchandise rather than as stock, and that means a track or a spot layout planned against the fixture plan, not a grid of downlights placed before the fixtures are known. A store with an even ceiling grid and no accent lighting looks like a stockroom whatever is in it.
The last planning decision is the till position, and it is worth more thought than it usually gets. A till at the front of the store next to the door makes staff visible and deters theft, but it also puts a queue across the entrance at the busiest moment of the day. A till set back about two thirds of the depth pulls customers past the merchandise and keeps the entrance clear, at the cost of sightlines to the door. In a unit under about 600 sq ft the front position usually wins; above that, set it back.
Every constant on this page comes from Greenbox site records — measured drawings, signed BOQs and completion certificates from projects delivered between 2023 and 2026 — rounded to the figures an estimator would actually write down. We publish them so the arithmetic can be audited rather than trusted. Treat the output as a planning figure: accurate enough to brief a landlord, a bank or a family, and not accurate enough to sign a contract against.
What this tool does not cover
- Fixture cost, which for a system wall runs ₹1,400–3,200 per running foot and for bespoke floor units far more.
- Lighting, which in retail is not a fit-out afterthought — accent lighting at 3 to 5 times ambient is what makes merchandise read.
- Statutory occupancy, fire egress and accessible route requirements, which override density.
- Landlord fit-out manuals in a mall, which specify shopfront depth, signage zones and often the aisle width.
- Stock room racking and the goods-in route, which are back-of-house planning.
- For a showroom with room sets rather than dense fixtures, use the showroom display area calculator.
Selected work by Greenbox Design Studio. Tap any image to enlarge.
Frequently asked questions
How wide should retail aisles be?+
Four feet for apparel and footwear, 3.5 for grocery and 4.5 for jewellery and electronics where customers stand at counters. Below 3.5 feet two customers cannot pass, and a new fit-out in India should plan a 4 ft primary aisle for accessibility.
How much of a retail unit is selling area?+
Seventy-four to eighty-five per cent. Back of house, stock and fitting rooms take 15% at a minimum, 20% typically and 26% where stockholding is heavy. Everything else in the plan comes out of what remains.
Are wall fixtures better than floor fixtures?+
Per square foot of floor, yes, by a distance. A perimeter bay uses vertical space and costs no circulation, while a floor unit costs its own footprint plus the aisle around it. Fill the walls first and add floor fixtures only where the open area genuinely supports them.
How many fitting rooms does an apparel store need?+
About one per 400 sq ft of apparel selling area, each 12 to 15 sq ft plus queue space. It is the most commonly under-provided element in an Indian apparel fit-out, and a Saturday fitting-room queue costs exactly the sales the store was designed to make.
Should the area near the entrance hold fixtures?+
No. Customers need roughly ten feet of decompression on entering, and merchandise inside that zone is routinely walked past. It looks like wasted selling space on a plan, and keeping it clear is what makes the rest of the floor work.