Draw a store floor plan with walls, aisles and fixtures

Help center / Planning shelves

The store map in headoffis is a top-down drawing of one store. Lay out walls, aisles and fixtures to scale, then link each fixture to the planogram it carries, so the map and the shelves stay connected.

Set up the floor

1. Open Store map and set the store dimensions in feet. New maps start at 40 by 30 ft.
2. Choose Draw wall or Draw aisle, then click two endpoints or two opposite corners. Add wall and Add aisle by size do the same through a form. Escape cancels a drawing.
3. Choose Add fixture to map, pick a fixture, give it a location label, and optionally link a planogram for the same store and fixture.

Arrange it

Drag an item to move it on a 1 ft grid with 6 in snapping, or use Edit details for exact coordinates in inches. Rotate fixtures and aisles in 90 degree steps. Select a linked fixture and choose Open linked planogram to edit its shelves.

Warnings and limits

• The map warns about items outside the store boundary and fixtures that overlap other fixtures, aisles or walls.
• Warnings are planning aids, not a clearance or accessibility calculation.
• Walls are drawn as center lines. Wall thickness, doors and curved outlines are not modeled.
• Every fixture on the map is a stock location in Inventory.

Draw a floor plan to scale

Measure the sales floor before you open the map. Take the overall length and width first, then the position of each wall run, aisle and fixture from one fixed corner. Write every measurement down in feet and inches.

Enter the overall size as the store dimensions, then add walls and aisles. Drawing with the mouse snaps to 6 in, which suits a first pass. Edit details takes exact coordinates and footprint sizes in inches when a fixture has to sit flush against a wall or beside a column.

A fixture's footprint on the map is separate from its usable shelf measurements. Changing the footprint moves nothing on the shelves, and the planogram keeps the width, depth and shelf gaps set on the fixture.

What scale should a floor plan be?

On paper, a common architectural scale is a quarter inch to the foot. On the map there is no ratio to choose. You enter real dimensions in feet and inches, and zoom and scrolling set how large the drawing appears on screen.

How to arrange store fixtures

Select a fixture or aisle to work on it with the keyboard instead of dragging:

• Arrow keys move the focused item 6 in, and Shift with an arrow moves it 1 ft.
• R rotates a fixture or aisle by 90 degrees.
• Delete or Backspace removes the focused item.
• Undo and redo cover the last 50 map edits in the current session, with Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z, or Cmd on a Mac.

Place the fixtures along the walls first, since their positions are fixed by the building, then the runs in the middle of the floor. Keep the warning list empty as you go. An overlap is easier to fix while the fixture is still selected.

Link fixtures to planograms

Linking turns the store fixture layout into a map of what each shelf carries. A fixture can link to a planogram for the same store and the same fixture type. Several physical fixtures can link to one planogram, which suits a run of identical bays set the same way.

• Select a linked fixture and choose Open linked planogram to go straight to its shelves.
• Deleting a planogram unlinks the fixtures that used it. The fixtures stay on the map.
• A fixture type that is on the map cannot be deleted until those map items are removed.
• Each fixture on the map is its own stock location, so you can select it to see what is counted there.

The same links feed the heatmap overlay on the map, which colors each fixture by the sales of its linked planogram or the stock counted at its location.

How wide should store aisles be?

headoffis does not calculate aisle width, so check it yourself against the rules that apply to your store. In the United States, the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design set a minimum clear width of 36 inches for an accessible route, with short reductions to 32 inches. OSHA's exit route rule, 29 CFR 1910.36, sets 28 inches as the minimum width of exit access. Local fire and building codes can require more, so ask your local authority before you finalize the plan.

When you plan the store aisle layout, measure aisle width between the outer edges of the fixtures on each side, including any shelf lip or display that sticks out. A map drawn from footprints can look wider than the finished aisle.

A worked example: convenience store layout

This is a worked example with made-up figures. A shop measures 40 by 30 ft, the size a new map starts at.

1. Draw the four outer walls along the boundary.
2. Draw an aisle zone 4 ft wide down the middle of the floor.
3. Add two 4 ft gondolas on each side of that aisle, with location labels Aisle 1 left and Aisle 1 right.
4. Add a cooler against the back wall as a fixture.
5. Link each gondola to its planogram. The two left-hand gondolas carry the same snack layout, so both link to one planogram.

The result is a retail floor plan in which every shelf has a location for stock counts and a planogram behind it.

Retail space planning with the map

Use the map to compare options before anything moves in the store. Dragging a gondola 2 ft and reading the warnings is quicker than redrawing a paper plan. Each store has its own map, so a layout that works in one location can be redrawn in the next with that store's measurements.

Coming soon

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