Retail space checklist: documents and steps for 2027

This checklist is organized by where you are standing when you can check each item. Some things can only be seen from the pavement. Some can only be confirmed in a document. Some require a visit to the local authority. Work through it in that order and nothing gets assumed.

What to take away

• Half of a retail check happens outside the unit, at your own trading hours, and before anyone opens the door for you.
• The back of the unit, deliveries and waste, decides whether the shop can operate. Inspect it as carefully as the frontage.
• Two items live outside the building entirely: the planning office's answer on use, and the license for anything you sell that needs one.

On the pavement

• Stand opposite the unit at your opening time, at your busiest expected hour, and after dark. Note who passes, which direction they walk, and whether they look at the shopfronts.
• Look at the units either side and across the street. Are they trading, empty, or about to change? An empty run beside you pulls your trade down.
• Find where customers would park or arrive from, and walk that route. Count the obstacles: crossings, level changes, blank frontages.
• Check the sightline from the direction most people approach. Is the shopfront visible before someone is level with it?
• Look up. Is there residential above? That affects hours, noise, deliveries and any extract you need.
• Photograph the frontage with any existing signage, awnings and security shutters, and note whether these belong to the unit or the previous tenant.

The reasoning behind these observations, and how to count footfall yourself, is set out in retail space.

At the door

• Is the entrance level, or is there a step? Is the door wide enough, and does it open easily? The federal Access Board's guide to entrances, doors and gates explains what an accessible entrance involves, and the landlord's and your obligations should be settled in the lease rather than assumed.
• What is the glazing condition, and who is responsible for it?
• Where would your sign go, and what is the existing sign's approval status?
• Is there a lobby, a draught issue, or a security grille that changes how the shop reads when open?

Inside

• Measure the width, depth and ceiling height yourself. Note columns, steps, level changes and anything that breaks the floor.
• Find the electrical panel and photograph it. Note the service capacity and any spare ways.
• Find water, drainage and any gas. Note where they enter and whether they reach where you need them.
• Check heating and cooling: what is installed, its age, and who maintains and replaces it.
• Check the floor, walls and ceiling for damp, staining or repairs.
• Look for data entry points and what connectivity is available at the address.
• Note what the previous tenant left: fixtures, counters, shelving, lighting. Ask who owns each item and whether it must be removed.
• Locate restrooms and confirm whether they are for staff only or must serve customers.

At the back

• Find the rear access, if any. How do deliveries arrive, at what hours, and do they cross the sales floor?
• Where does waste go? Is there space to store it, is trade waste collected separately, and who arranges the collection?
• If you prepare food, trace the extract route to the outside and ask whether you have the right to use it. Commercial kitchen exhaust is designed against a standard such as NFPA 96, and a duct that cannot be routed is a unit you cannot cook in. This is the item that most often makes a unit unusable.
• Check the stockroom size against your actual stockholding, on the shelving you use.
• Check staff facilities, and whether there is anywhere for a staff member to sit.
• Look at the service yard or alley: lighting, security, and who else uses it.

In the file

Ask for these documents and read them before an offer, not after.

• The lease form the landlord uses, or at least the heads of terms, including the permitted use, hours, delivery windows and any exclusives held by other tenants.
• The center or building rules, if any, with the current version dated.
• The measurement certificate for the unit.
• The certificate of occupancy or local equivalent, showing what the space is approved for.
• Any existing signage approvals, and the landlord's signage criteria.
• The condition schedule for the unit at handover, with the delivery condition defined in words and on a plan.
• The service charge or operating expense budget and the last reconciliation, so you can see what the shared costs consist of.
• The landlord's requirements for your fit-out submission, including what they must approve and how long they take.

If the deal involves an allowance or a landlord's works, the sequence and the risks are set out in tenant improvements.

At the counter of the local office

• Confirm the zoning district and the status of your use in its table: permitted, conditional or absent.
• Ask whether your use requires a change of use application, and what it involves.
• Ask about signage rules, and whether any overlay, such as a historic or design district, applies.
• Ask what licenses your goods or services require, and which office issues them.
• Ask about hours, outdoor trading, and deliveries if any of those matter to you.
• Get the answers in writing, and keep them with the lease file.

The way these enquiries work, and what to do when the answer is conditional, is covered in zoning and permits.

Before you sign

• Every unknown from the sections above is resolved, or the lease is conditional on it with an outside date.
• The rent commencement date is tied to delivery in the agreed condition, not to a calendar date.
• The permitted use clause covers what you may sell in two years, not only what you open with.
• Any exclusive you rely on has a definition wide enough to protect you and a remedy if it is breached.
• You have decided what happens if the anchor leaves or the center empties, and it is written down.
• You have a photographic record of the unit's condition on the day you take it.

Where the street or district is itself still in question, the wider comparison method in location selection comes before any of this.

Common questions

Which item on this list is skipped most often?

Standing outside at the actual trading hours. People visit when it suits the agent, which is usually mid-morning on a weekday, and infer the rest.

What if the previous tenant left fixtures I want to keep?

Establish who owns them and whether the landlord expects them removed. Get it in the lease, along with an agreement that you will not be asked to remove them at the end.

Do I need the planning enquiry for a unit that was already a shop?

Yes, if your trade differs at all from the last one, and especially if it involves food, alcohol, late hours or outdoor seating. "Shop" is not a single category in most use tables.

How long does the checklist take?

Two visits at different hours, a morning with the documents, and a written enquiry to the local authority that may take weeks to answer. Start the enquiry first.