Daily Store Opening Checklist

Opening your store is an important part of the day if you are to achieve the goal of generating money. Although it may seem extremely obvious, do you always have tasks done in time for the store opening? Are you giving yourself enough time to get to the store? 

That's why us over here at Process Street came up with the Daily Store Opening Checklist. 

Great customer service and sales begin with efficient store operations. If your store is running smoothly then your customers will have a pleasant experience and won't mind returning to shop. If you have clean aisles, sales signs out front, music on, etc. Your business day will run smoother.

Using this template will ensure you never forget your keys again! 

Before you leave to open the store for the day, you need to make sure you have got your keys to open the store with. Make sure you check your pockets, sideboards, drawers or anywhere where you keys could be, including the door!

First things first; for the store to be prepared and ready for the business day, you will need to arrive early. For you to get today's pre-open tasks done, you need to arrive at least 15-30 minutes before the store is due to open and unlock the door.

Record the time and date of your arrival below:

Recording your time and arrival every day will let you know when is the best time to arrive and have your tasks complete ensuring your store will have a smooth day ahead.

As soon as you are inside the store you are going to have to turn on the lights enabling you to see where you are going. This will also enable you to complete your other tasks which could involve clearing aisles, re-stocking and more. 

'Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.' - Desiderius Erasmus

Turning off the alarm once you are inside the store ensures no horrible, crazy sudden noise goes off. This is the burglar alarm, you have 30secs-1min to turn off the alarm before it makes an annoying sound and then the police are zooming around the corner.  

You are going to want to walk around the store floor once the store has been initially setup to begin housekeeping duties. 

Make sure there are no spillages, the aisles are clean and the light fixtures are well presented (no squint lights or broken ones). Customers do not want to see multiple lights which are not working or a spillage they could slip on. 

Rearranging tags may sound boring and pointless but it is crucial from a customers point of view. Make sure your tags are arranged correctly using the sub-checklist below:

There is nothing worse from a customer's point of view as to when they go to buy a product and it has the absolutely wrong price tag on it.  They don't want to be expecting to pay $15 for a shirt when in actual fact it costs $35. They also don't want to be buying the wrong size.

You should make sure your cash registers are ready to go and have sufficient funds in them allowing you to exchange customers money. Also, if you run a paper loyalty scheme have them available in the cash register in the event of a customer asking for them.

Throughout the course of the day, you should never count cash in front of customers and it should be done out of site, preferably in a staff-room

It is important to have your electronic systems switched on when customers enter the store. On electronic systems, you can promote your products to customers when they're looking around in the store. You can promote sales items and clearance stock in an attempt to get rid of them. 

• Computers - for stock checking, emails, etc.
• Music system - no one likes silence.
• TV screens - you can promote your products, sales, etc.
• Working Displays - if you have displays needing activated, make sure to do this. 

If your store is located in a hot climate or in the event of a warm day, make sure you remember to turn your air conditioning on - so customers don't feel too stuffed and have the feeling of wanting to run out of your store asap. 

Activating air condition is another task you may seem non-important. We like a bit of sun, but when you're inside shopping sweating uncontrollably which is not comfortable. 

If you have anything outside of your store which should not be there, have one of your staff members go outside and re-organise the outside of the store. This makes the store look more appealing to potential customers or anyone who is passing by. No one likes mess anywhere, this applies to the outside of your store too.

This simple task could potentially gain more footfall and sales.

Assigning daily duties ensure staff is aware of what they will be doing during the day.  You will need to have tasks completed throughout the day and having staff know what they're working on before they open shop helps the day run smoother.

Use the sub-checklist below to know what duties you have to assign:

This stops confusion later on through the day.

After your store is ready to go, you're going to have to get your staff routines checked which will enable them to know when they're going to be working during the day.

Let staff know when they will be working and when they can take their break/lunch - making sure no disruption during the day happens.

Conducting a final staff meeting lets the staff know what their targets are for the day, what they're supposed to be doing and when they need to do it for.

Ask staff to have one last check of the store to make sure they have done their preparation correctly. You do not want to find paper lying on the shop floor or anything else which should've been done earlier.

The last thing you have to do is open the doors enabling customers to enter the store and begin shopping.

Ace Hardware -  Opening Procedures

GreatSampleResume - Stocking clerk responsibilities

Gemma Halder from AGCAS - Retail merchandiser  

Workable Resources - Cleaner responsibilities  

Desiderius Erasmus - Quote 

Retail Employee Onboarding Checklist

Retail Merchandising

Retail Store Cleaning Checklist

Store Audit Checklist

Store Opening Checklist