Shop window and storefront: ideas that make passers-by actually step inside

Several hundred people may walk past a small shop every day, and most of them never come in. Not because they don't need anything, but because on the move they never find out that they could get what they are looking for here. They can't see that you are open, they can't see what you sell, and nothing gives them a reason to slow down. The window and the few square metres in front of the shop are where that question is settled.

A good window is not expensive decoration, and it doesn't take a window dresser's talent either. It comes down to a few simple rules: what a passer-by sees in three seconds, how many things you are trying to say at once, how fresh the things behind the glass are, and whether it shows in the evening that the shop is open. Most of this is free; it only takes attention and routine.

This article is about the part you can see from the street: the window, the entrance, the chalkboard and the space in front of the shop. What goes where on the shelves inside is covered in Where should everything go? A shop layout that actually sells more; how people find you online in How people find your shop on Google Maps and in search and How to promote your shop on social media — free and paid; and the wider picture of growing turnover in How to grow a shop's turnover: 12 steps that actually work. The examples are general and can be adapted to any small grocery, bakery or convenience shop.

Three seconds: what a passer-by sees on the move

Someone walking past your shop is in line with the window for roughly three seconds. On a bike or in a car, they get even less. In that time they don't read a paragraph, they don't scan the shelves, and they don't work out what a clever slogan means. They take away one impression, and if it isn't strong enough, they walk on. The three seconds is not a measured rule but a rule of thumb — yet it shows how little time there is.

They need answers to three questions, in this order. If the first two go unanswered, they never get to the third.

• Is it open? Lights on, an open or glass door, a sign put out and clearly legible opening hours all say yes. A half-lowered shutter, a dark interior and boxes standing in the doorway say no.
• What do you sell? It isn't clear from the shop's name, but from what can be seen: bread, vegetables, coffee, wine. One or two characteristic products behind the glass say more than a sign.
• What does something cost? One clearly visible price for a single product — a coffee, a bread roll, this week's offer — says there are no surprises here. Where no price is visible, passers-by often assume it's more expensive.

It's worth crossing to the other side of the street once, looking from there, and then walking past your shop along the pavement at your normal pace. Notice what catches your eye and what simply blends into the building front. If you can, ask someone who doesn't know the shop to do the same and tell you what they saw. Their three seconds are more honest than yours.

The five jobs of a shop window

A window's job is not to be pretty. Its job is to stop someone and bring them in. That can be broken down into five smaller jobs. If your window doesn't do even one of them, the most beautiful decoration is just a backdrop.

One window, one message

The most common window mistake is not emptiness but clutter. The shopkeeper wants to show everything they sell and announce every promotion they are running. The result is a busy surface on which the passer-by's eye finds nothing to hold on to. If ten things compete for attention in one window, none of them wins.

Every time you change the window, decide on the one thing you want to say right now: fresh strawberries have arrived, you can have a coffee here, cakes can be ordered for the weekend. Everything else should work for that one message, or stay out of the window. If you have two large windows, you can have two messages, but still one per window. Everything else you want to say belongs on the shelves, by the counter or on your social media page.

„A window is not the shop's inventory. It says one sentence, and says it loudly enough to be heard from across the street.”

Products in the window: fresh, real, changed

The strongest element of a window is the goods themselves — provided they are real and look good. A basket of fresh bread, a crate of red apples or a row of neatly arranged jars says more than any sign. But the window is a harsh place for products: the sun beats down on it, it gets hot in summer, the glass steams up in winter, and whatever stands there fades, dries out or gathers dust within days.

• Only put perishable goods in the window if you change them daily and put back what you took out. Wilted vegetables or dried-out bakes are a worse advertisement than an empty window.
• Don't put anything that needs refrigeration in a sunny window — show only its box, an empty pack or a photo of it, if anything.
• The packaging of long-life goods you display fades over time. Change them every week or two, and don't sell faded items at full price or put them back on the shelf as if they were new.
• Only show what is also available inside. If a product in the window has sold out, take it out of the window too, or the customer leaves disappointed.
• Quantity is a message too: a single item in a large window looks forlorn, a pile of them suggests plenty.
• Build height: use boxes, crates or a small table to create several levels, so that not everything lies flat on the sill.

On a small budget

A good window rarely needs a shopping trip. Most props are already in the stockroom or come with your suppliers, and what isn't can be had for very little.

• Wooden crates, fruit boxes, wicker baskets: they make a natural background and are good for raising products up.
• A piece of fabric or paper on the window floor: a plain background that makes the product stand out, and can be changed with the seasons.
• Greenery, flowers and produce of the season: catkins in spring, flowers in summer, walnuts and pumpkins in autumn, fir branches in winter.
• A small lamp or a string of lights aimed at a single point in the window — in the evening, on a dark street, that draws the eye.
• A handwritten card next to the product: where it comes from, who made it, what it's good for. One sentence is enough.
• Your own products as decoration: a pyramid of apples, a row of colourful jars, a pile of fresh loaves.

Chalkboards and A-boards: short, legible, changing

A sign put out in front of the shop is one of a small shop's cheapest and most effective tools, provided it doesn't say the same thing for months. The sign's power is in the change: someone who walks past every day and sees something different each time will eventually read it, and one day come in. If the text never changes, within three days the sign becomes part of the pavement that nobody looks at.

• One sign, one sentence. No more than three short lines that can be read on the move.
• Large letters, strong contrast: white chalk or a chalk marker on a dark board, with letters legible from a few steps away.
• Be specific: "fresh strawberries just in" works better than "come in and have a look".
• If you write a price, it must be accurate, and the same at the till.
• Change it daily, or at least every few days — different in the morning than in the evening, different in rain than in sunshine.
• Place it so it can be seen from both directions, without blocking the pavement.

Make it visible in the evening that you are open

In autumn and winter, much of your opening time is spent in the dark. Then the light in the window is the shop's most important message: a lit window on a dark street says from afar that you are open, a dim one says you have probably closed. Many shopkeepers try to save on lighting during the quiet evening hours, and that is exactly what makes them even quieter.

• The window should be the brightest part of the shop, not the back aisle. From outside, passers-by see the window, not the stockroom.
• Warm, even light is better than glare: cold, bluish tube lighting feels like a hospital, warm light invites people in.
• Aim one lamp at the main product in the window — in the dark, that single lit spot draws the eye.
• Opening hours and the "Open" sign should be legible in the evening too; if needed, light them with a small lamp.
• After closing, a smaller light can stay on in the window on a timer, if local rules allow — so the shop reminds people of itself in the evening even when it is closed.
• Look at it from outside in the evening: is the glass reflecting, is anything glaring, can you see the person behind the counter?

Light costs money, but a window lamp's consumption rarely compares with what one or two customers dropping in during the evening bring. Whether an evening hour pays off overall is worked through in our article How late should your shop stay open? The marginal hour, Sundays and early starts. But as long as you are open, it has to show.

Cleanliness and the entrance: the first step into the shop

Customers don't start judging a shop at the shelf, but at the door. Dirty glass, a corner full of cigarette ends or a soaked, crumpled doormat says it won't be any better inside. Keeping the entrance tidy costs nothing; it just has to be built into the daily routine, like opening the till.

• Windows and door glass: clean inside and out, with no fingerprints. On a busy street at least once a week, and the door every day.
• Pavement in front of the entrance: sweep it in the morning, clear snow and ice in winter and fallen leaves in autumn.
• Doormat: have one, keep it clean, and make sure it doesn't ruck up — a curled corner is easy to trip over.
• Litter: if there is a bin at the entrance, empty it regularly. Cigarette ends and dropped packaging build up quickly, and they reflect badly on your shop.
• Door: it should open easily and not creak, and if a bell announces customers, it should be quiet and friendly.
• Old stickers, expired posters, worn opening hours: scrape off whatever no longer applies. On a door covered in notices, the important information gets lost.

Step-free access and pushchairs

A single step or a door that is too narrow is enough to stop someone from even trying to come in: a parent with a pushchair, a customer in a wheelchair, an older person with a walking stick or a neighbour pulling a shopping trolley. They are often exactly the people who would be the area's most regular customers. You can't rebuild the entrance everywhere, but small steps often help a lot.

• Leave free space in front of and behind the door where a pushchair can turn — not where the crates or the offer basket stand.
• If there is a step, a portable ramp or a clearly visible bell by the door — "Ring and we'll help" — already makes a big difference; for a ramp, check whether you need permission.
• The A-board, planters and goods put out should not narrow the way to the entrance.
• The door shouldn't be too heavy; if possible, fix it open in good weather.
• Inside, the way to the till should be passable with a pushchair, at least near the entrance.

A window calendar for the year

Most windows stay unchanged for months because there is never time to change them, and no plan. If you know in advance what comes when, changing the window becomes an hour's work a month rather than a big job you keep putting off. The calendar below is built on general seasons and occasions; adapt it to your own country's holidays, local events and your range.

Put the window-change day in your calendar — for example the first Monday of every month — and treat it like a delivery: it doesn't get skipped. Change it a week or two before a holiday, not on the day; customers plan when the window first reminds them. And take the decorations down right after the holiday: a fir branch still out in mid-January says the shop has fallen behind.

How to measure whether it works

The effect of a window is easy to feel and hard to prove. After a new display the shopkeeper is proud, the neighbour praises it, and it seems there are more customers — but perhaps the weather was just better, or it was payday. The reliable measure is the number of sales per hour: how many purchases were made in each hour in the period before and after the change. Not the total turnover, because a single large purchase skews it, but the number of sales — after all, the window's job is to bring more people in.

• Change one thing at a time: the window, the sign or the lighting. If you change everything at once, you won't know what worked.
• Compare like with like: weekdays with weekdays, Saturdays with Saturdays.
• Note anything that might distort the picture: weather, holidays, payday, road closures, a promotion at a neighbouring shop.
• Look at how the product in the window sold as well: if fresh strawberries are in the window, did you sell more strawberries than before?
• If the number of sales doesn't change, that's a result too: perhaps the window isn't the problem, and you need to look for customers elsewhere.

Common mistakes

• A window plastered with notices. Posters, stickers and handwritten notes on top of each other — passers-by can't see in and don't read a single message.
• An old promotion left up. An expired offer in the window says nobody is looking after the shop, and a customer who comes in for it is disappointed.
• A dark window in the evening. The shop is open but looks closed from outside, and that is what makes the evening hour quiet.
• Faded, dusty goods. Boxes that have stood in the sun for weeks show a neglected shop.
• A window used as storage. Crates, empty cartons, the backs of shelves facing the glass — that's not a window, it's a blocked-off pane.
• An unreadable sign. Small letters, faint chalk, too much text — passers-by can't read anything from it on the move.
• A different price on the sign and at the till. If customers pay something other than what they saw outside, you lose their trust, and in many places it is also against the rules.
• A blocked entrance. Goods put out, the sign or crates mean a pushchair can't get through and passers-by have to walk around.

How to get started, step by step

1. 11. Look at your shop from outsideCross to the other side, then walk past the shop at your normal pace, in daylight and in the evening. Write down what you saw in three seconds: whether it's open, what you sell, and whether any price is visible.
2. 22. Clean up and clear outScrape off old stickers, remove expired promotions and faded goods, clean the glass and clear the entrance. This step alone makes a visible difference.
3. 33. Write down the starting two weeksBefore changing anything, look at how many sales you had per hour in the past two weeks. That will be your basis for comparison.
4. 44. Choose one message and build the window around itOne main product or offer, with real goods, a short line of text and at least one clearly visible price. Anything that doesn't work for it comes out.
5. 55. Put out a sign and switch on the lightWrite a short line for the day on the chalkboard, and change it daily. In the evening, the window should be the brightest part of the shop.
6. 66. Compare after two weeksPut the hourly sales from the two weeks before and after side by side, and look at how the product in the window sold as well. What worked stays; what didn't, change at the next window change.
7. 77. Put the next change in the calendarOne window change a month, following the window calendar. Note what you tried and what came of it — after a year, that notebook is your best window guide.

Checklist

• From across the street you can see that we are open and what we sell.
• The window carries one main message, and at least one product's accurate price is visible.
• The goods in the window are fresh, real, available inside, and I change them regularly.
• The sign has a short line for today in large letters, and any price on it is the same at the till.
• In the evening, the window is the brightest part of the shop.
• The window and door are clean, the doormat is in order, and there is no litter in front of the entrance.
• Nothing blocks the entrance, and you can get in with a pushchair.
• There are no expired promotions, old posters or outdated opening hours on display.
• The sign, stickers and anything put outside comply with local rules.
• The next window-change day is in the calendar, and I check the number of sales before and after.

Summary

• A window works in roughly three seconds: in that time it has to become clear that you are open, what you sell, and what something costs.
• The five jobs of a window: show you are open, show your range, give a reason to come in, give a price and show that the shop is cared for.
• One window, one message — with fresh, real goods that are changed regularly.
• The chalkboard works with short, legible, changing text; the change itself is a sign that the shop is alive.
• In the evening light, in the daytime clean glass and a clear, step-free entrance bring customers in.
• With a simple window calendar, a monthly change becomes routine, and you measure its effect on the hourly number of sales, before and after the change.

Frequently asked questions