Retail store fit out
Shop and mall-unit fit out across Dubai — shopfront and signage, display joinery from our own Al Quoz workshop, retail lighting, fitting rooms and stockroom, with the mall design review, authority permit and Civil Defence handled and the install run overnight so you open on the lease date.
A retail fit out in Dubai is unlike any other: the mall sets the opening date, charges rent from the handover, restricts work to overnight hours, reviews every drawing of the shopfront before an authority sees it, and holds a deposit against the hoarding coming down on time. A fit out firm that is used to offices and villas discovers all of this on site, and the tenant pays for the lesson in rent on a store that is not open.
We fit out retail the way the mall runs it. The fit out manual is read before the design is drawn, so the shopfront, signage and ceiling heights pass design review first time. Display joinery, cash desks and feature walls are built and finished in our own workshop while the approvals run, then installed overnight in sequence. Our delivered stores — Five Mode in JVC and the Neo-Arabic abaya boutique in Mirdif — were both complete design-and-build, shopfront to stockroom.
What a retail fit out covers
Complete new stores, brand roll-outs into existing units, and overnight refreshes for stores that cannot close.
Glazed fronts, portals and illuminated signage designed to the mall’s shopfront criteria so they pass design review first time.
Wall systems, gondolas, plinths and tables with reconfigurable shelf standards, built to survive daily handling.
Ambient, accent and display layers with the colour rendering the merchandise actually needs, on separate circuits.
Counters with cable management, terminal provision and storage designed around how staff serve, not around a catalogue.
Flattering light, correctly set mirrors, ventilation routed in, and a stockroom laid out for how deliveries actually arrive.
Brand updates and seasonal re-fits done overnight behind hoarding so the store trades through the works.
Mall & authority approvals
The mall runs its own process alongside the government one, and it is the mall’s that most often holds up an opening. We run both in parallel from lease handover.
How we handle approvalsOn signing, the mall issues its fit out manual: shopfront criteria (glazing height, portal depth, bulkhead line), signage zone and illumination rules, drawing format, contractor documents, deposit, working hours and loading-bay booking. Every mall’s manual is different — Emaar, Majid Al Futtaim, Nakheel and Dubai Holding malls each run their own — and designing before reading it is how shopfronts get rejected.
Concept, then detailed drawings of the shopfront, signage, ceiling and finishes go to the mall’s design team. They check the front against the mall’s criteria and neighbours, the signage against the illumination rules, and the plan against the base-build services. Nothing is submitted to an authority until the mall has stamped it, because the authority set must match the approved design.
Mainland malls go to Dubai Municipality. Malls in free zones go to that zone’s authority — Trakhees for Nakheel’s Ibn Battuta and Dragon Mart, DDA for Design District retail. Each has its own drawing standard and approved-contractor register. The set is prepared for the authority that actually governs the unit.
Any partition, ceiling, sprinkler or detection change needs Dubai Civil Defence drawing approval and an inspection before opening; the illuminated signage and any new distribution board need DEWA. Both go in with the main package rather than after the mall has approved, because a sprinkler head under a new bulkhead can stop a store opening with the fixtures already in.
The mall’s technical team inspects against the approved drawings, checks the fire systems and the shopfront, and only then releases the hoarding. Snagging closes the deposit. We hand over as-built drawings and the test certificates the mall keeps on file for the life of the lease.
Recent retail and commercial work
JVC, Mirdif, Al Quoz, JLT and Jumeirah.
Scope & programme
We price line by line in a BOQ after surveying the unit and reading the mall manual, and issue a programme keyed to the mall’s opening date. These are the decisions that move both.
Frameless glazing, portal depth, stone or metal cladding and illuminated signage are the most visible line and often the largest. The mall’s criteria set the minimum; the brand sets the rest.
Fixed wall systems and freestanding fixtures made in our workshop. Reconfigurable shelf standards cost more at the outset and save a return to the workshop every time the collection changes.
Track and spot systems with the colour rendering the product needs — fashion, jewellery, cosmetics and dark fabric each need different lamps. Lighting is where a cheap fit out shows first.
Malls restrict construction to after closing, with loading-bay slots to book. The same scope takes more shifts than daytime work in an empty unit, and we programme and price it that way from the start.
Some units arrive with ceiling, sprinklers and power to a point; others as raw shell. The difference is MEP scope, and it is confirmed at survey against the lease’s landlord-works schedule before we price.
Mall design review, the authority route and long-lead items: imported shopfront systems, specialist lighting, branded fixtures. Joinery is built in the workshop during the review so it does not sit on top of the site programme.
Tell us the mall, the unit and the opening date in the lease. We will survey, read the fit out manual against your brand guidelines, and come back with a programme keyed to that date and a BOQ priced line by line.
Common questions
Mall approvals, overnight working, joinery and roll-outs. If yours is not here, call +971 50 448 3095.
The mall’s own fit out permit and design review first, then the authority permit for the jurisdiction (Dubai Municipality on the mainland, Trakhees or DDA in free-zone malls), Dubai Civil Defence for partitions, ceilings and fire systems, and DEWA for the signage supply and any new board. The mall then inspects before releasing the hoarding. We handle all of it as part of our scope and run the mall and authority tracks in parallel.
Not usually for construction. Most malls restrict noisy and dusty work to after closing and require deliveries through booked loading-bay slots. Hoarding goes up on day one, and the store is built behind it overnight. We programme the shifts from the manual rather than discovering the rules on site.
Yes. Wall systems, gondolas, plinths, tables, cash desks and feature walls are made in our own Al Quoz workshop by our in-house joiners, finished there, and installed in sequence overnight. Reconfigurable shelf standards with concealed, accessible fixings mean the merchandising can be reset without a return to the workshop. See the joinery page for the workshop.
Yes. Once a concept store is built, the joinery is drawn as a kit of parts, so each new unit is a site-specific plan against a known fixture library rather than a new design. Each mall still has its own manual and design review, which we handle unit by unit.
Yes. Retail lighting is layered — ambient, accent and display — on separate circuits, with lamps chosen for the merchandise: fashion, jewellery, cosmetics and dark fabrics each render differently. The abaya boutique in Mirdif was lit specifically so black fabric reads correctly, because that store lives or dies on it.
It depends on the lease’s landlord-works schedule. Some units come with a ceiling, sprinklers, conditioned air and power to a point; others are raw shell with capped services. The difference is MEP scope, and it is the first thing we check at survey so the quotation prices the unit you are actually taking.
Yes. Brand updates, new fixtures and seasonal re-fits are done overnight behind temporary hoarding so trading continues the next morning. Fixtures are pre-built in the workshop and swapped in sequence. See the retail renovation page.
Yes. Street units skip the mall design review but still need the building owner’s consent, the authority permit, Civil Defence and DEWA, and signage on a public frontage has its own approval. The process is simpler, the shopfront usually larger, and we handle both.
