On this page 7 sections
If you can only afford two signs for a small shop, buy the one above the door and the graphics on the window. Both keep selling at 2am on a Sunday. A pavement A-board comes next for passing trade, then banners for the big weeks, and finally the small print inside. Here’s that ladder, one rung at a time.
Step 1: the name above the door #
This is the sign people use to find you, so it’s the one to get right first. Our shop signs come in a choice of two boards:
- 5 mm Foamex. Cheap to buy, a doddle to fix. Fine for a fascia under a canopy or an inside wall.
- 3 mm Dibond. Aluminium composite, stiff and weatherproof. The one to choose if the sign lives outside for years.
The smallest is A4, the stock sizes top out around A0, and a custom panel can be as big as 2440 × 1220 mm (8 ft × 4 ft). Allow 3 working days to make it on Standard. Options worth a thought: drilled corners for screwing up, a matt or gloss laminate, and profile cutting to your logo’s outline. Matt is the better pick if low sun or strip lights hit the sign, because it doesn’t glare.
One thing to know up front: we print flat panels. No lit boxes, no built-up letters. If you want either, that’s a job for a local sign fitter.
Measure what you can fix to
Get the tape measure on the flat strip of fascia you can actually screw into, and ignore any trim or frame around it. Three pieces of information fit comfortably: who you are, a short line on what’s inside, and how to reach you online or by phone. Make the name the hero by a mile. How big it needs to be depends on how far away people are, and our guide to lettering size does the maths. For a side-by-side look at the boards, see Foamex, Dibond or Correx.
Step 2: the window #
Glass is free advertising space you’re already paying rent on. Window graphics use a matt, sticky-backed monomeric vinyl. Pick a circle, a square, or a square with softened corners, anything from 300 mm across to a metre, and bigger custom pieces (2000 × 1000 mm, say) for wide panes.
For most small shops, two pieces cover it: your logo in a circle on the door glass, and your hours at eye height. A bigger panel on the main window can carry what you sell. If the window is split by glazing bars, plan the design so a bar never runs through the middle of a word.
Vinyl goes on best when the glass is spotless and the weather is neither freezing nor baking. Our step-by-step on applying vinyl stickers walks you through it. Would a rigid panel suit you better for opening times? There’s an Opening Hours sign in vinyl, Foamex or Dibond too.
Step 3: the pavement #
An A-board catches people who were walking past anyway. Each A-frame pavement sign arrives as the frame with two posters inside, A2 or the larger A1. It takes 5 working days to make on Standard. Use the two faces differently: your name on one side, this week’s offer on the other. When the offer changes, buy replacement posters, not a new frame; just check whether yours takes A2 or A1 first.
Got a forecourt? The forecourt version holds a larger A1 or A0 poster in banner material, and you can buy it with or without the stand. Weight the base as the instructions say, or the first windy day will move it for you.
Of all the signs for a small shop, the A-board is the one councils care most about. Many want a licence for anything on the public footway, and a few say no outright, so phone them first. Keep the walkway wide enough for a wheelchair or a double buggy, think about anyone with poor sight, and bring the board inside when you lock up.
Step 4: banners for the loud weeks #
Opening week, a big sale or closing down: a banner is the cheapest way to be impossible to miss. Our We Are Open, sale and closing down designs all use 440gsm PVC, eyeletted for ties. Three sizes that suit small units:
| Size | Where it fits |
|---|---|
| 4 ft × 2 ft (1219 × 610 mm) | A door, a narrow window or a railing |
| 8 ft × 3 ft (2438 × 914 mm) | The strip below a typical small-unit fascia |
| 10 ft × 3 ft (3048 × 914 mm) | A wider frontage; over 3 m, so it adds £15 to delivery |
Banners take 4 working days on Standard. On a sale banner, make the number the biggest thing: the percentage or the price, then the dates, then your name. And only shout about a saving you can stand behind. Misleading price claims can land you on the wrong side of consumer protection law. Stuck on size? Our banner sizing guide helps.
Step 5: the small stuff inside #
Nobody notices it on purpose, but it’s what makes a new customer feel looked after.
- Posters from A5 to A1, on satin paper for frames or PVC for a damp porch.
- Floor stickers (300 or 500 mm, square or round, plus a metre-wide circle) mark where to queue or point people towards the back. They need a smooth, clean, dry floor.
- Swing tags in three shapes (50 × 50, 65 × 65, 50 × 90 mm), on matt, kraft or linen card. We punch the hole; you bring the string.
- Tent cards by the till, such as a three-sided DL triangle.
- Business cards at 85 × 55 mm, one in every bag.
- A CCTV notice if cameras are running, so shoppers are told.
Before signs for a small shop go up: planning and the lease #
In England, anything outside that advertises your business is covered by the advertisement regulations of 2007. An everyday shop sign often needs no application at all. Go large, go high, light it up or trade in a conservation area, though, and the answer may change. The other UK nations write their own rules. A five-minute call to the council planning team before the fascia goes up beats taking it down again. Renting? Read the lease as well: landlords often want a say on signs.
Ordering it all at once #
Plan around the slowest item. On Standard, shop signs take 3 working days, banners 4, A-boards 5 and floor stickers 7, with the count starting once your order and file are both signed off. UK mainland delivery is £7.95, free on orders of £100 or more after discounts; the delivery page has the rest.
Send us a finished file and a person checks it free of charge, or make one yourself in the free online designer, or pay for the artwork service; typesetting a logo and text into a clean layout is one of its fixed-price options. Not sure what your frontage needs? Snap the shopfront, jot down the sizes and pop both into get a quote. We’ll suggest signs for a small shop that fit the space and the budget.