Multi-store opening Gantt chart template: three waves, one opening team
An editable Gantt chart for opening several stores in three waves: a standard store kit, staggered leases and fit-outs, one opening team moving from wave to wave, a review after wave 1 and a handover to regional operations.
What the multi-store opening gantt chart template: three waves, one opening team process is
Opening several stores is not one store opening repeated. The same contractors and the same opening team are shared between sites, so the real question is how far apart the openings have to be for each of them to finish one wave before the next one needs them. The first wave also teaches you things the later waves should use. Grouping the stores into waves and staggering the shared work makes that pace visible, and shows head office when the last store will be trading.
This template has five groups: Programme, Wave 1 stores, Wave 2 stores, Wave 3 stores and Handover. "Approve the expansion plan and store list" (5 working days) is the only starting task. It leads to "Standardise the store kit and opening playbook" (10) and "Sign leases for wave 1" (10), and "Fit out wave 1 stores" (20) waits for both, so no store is built before the kit is fixed. Both take 10 days in the template and end on the same day, so a delay in either one moves wave 1. Each wave then has the same shape: leases, a 20-day fit-out and a 5-day set-up by the opening team, ending in a milestone such as "Wave 1 stores open".
The stagger is drawn with start-to-start links. "Sign leases for wave 2" starts 10 working days after the wave 1 leases start, and "Sign leases for wave 3" 10 days after that. "Fit out wave 2 stores" starts 15 days after "Fit out wave 1 stores" starts, and "Fit out wave 3 stores" 15 days after wave 2's. That 15-day lag is how the fit-out capacity is drawn: QueryChart does not know how many crews you have, so the lag stands for how soon your contractors can take on the next wave, and with 20-day fit-outs the waves overlap by 5 days. In the illustrative numbers the fit-outs, not the leases, set the pace. The wave 2 leases are signed 5 working days before that fit-out can start and the wave 3 leases 10 days before, and the waves open after 40, 55 and 70 working days.
There is one opening team, so each set-up also waits for the one before it: "Opening team sets up wave 2" cannot start before "Opening team sets up wave 1" ends, and "Opening team sets up wave 3" waits for wave 2's. With these numbers the fit-outs end later anyway, but if a fit-out finishes early, the link stops the plan from sending the same team to two waves at once. Wave 2's set-up also waits for "Review wave 1 trading and update the playbook" (5), which starts 5 working days after "Wave 1 stores open", so the lessons from wave 1 reach wave 2. In the template the review ends on the same day as the wave 2 fit-out, so a late review moves wave 2. "All stores trading" is the gate that waits for all three openings; "Hand over to regional operations" (5) follows it, and "Rollout complete" closes the plan after 75 working days. All durations are illustrative; replace them with your landlords' dates, your contractors' capacity and the pace your team can keep.
A timeline schedules the work. It does not sign a lease, size your fit-out crews or decide whether a wave traded well enough to go on. For the method behind the waves, see /guides/gantt-chart-staggered-site-rollout; for one store in detail, from lease to grand opening, see /templates/store-opening-gantt-chart; and for hiring and training the people who open each site, see /guides/opening-team-hiring-gantt-chart. If the stores are your first in a new country or region, plan the entry itself with /templates/market-expansion-gantt-chart.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- Five groups, Programme, Wave 1 stores, Wave 2 stores, Wave 3 stores and Handover, with 18 tasks and five milestones: "Wave 1 stores open", "Wave 2 stores open", "Wave 3 stores open", "All stores trading" and "Rollout complete".
- A standard kit before any build: "Fit out wave 1 stores" waits for "Standardise the store kit and opening playbook" and "Sign leases for wave 1".
- Staggered waves: each wave's leases start 10 working days after the previous wave's, and "Fit out wave 2 stores" and "Fit out wave 3 stores" each start 15 days after the fit-out before them.
- One opening team: "Opening team sets up wave 2" waits for "Opening team sets up wave 1" and for "Review wave 1 trading and update the playbook", and "Opening team sets up wave 3" waits for wave 2's set-up.
- A closing gate: "All stores trading" waits for all three openings, then "Hand over to regional operations" and "Rollout complete".
When to use this template
- You are opening several stores, branches or outlets and need one plan that head office, property, the fit-out contractors and the opening team share.
- You want to see how far apart the waves need to be and which wave sets the date the last store trades.
- You have one opening team or one fit-out contractor and want the plan to show when they move from one wave to the next.
- You want the first wave to change how the later ones are opened, and want that review inside the plan rather than after it.
The plan, task by task
Every task in the chart with its length in working days and what it waits for. A dependency is a step number; SS is start-to-start, FF is finish-to-finish, and +n is a lag in working days.
| # | Task | Group | Working days | Depends on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approve the expansion plan and store list | Programme | 5 | |
| 2 | Standardise the store kit and opening playbook | Programme | 10 | 1 |
| 3 | Sign leases for wave 1 | Wave 1 stores | 10 | 1 |
| 4 | Fit out wave 1 stores | Wave 1 stores | 20 | 2, 3 |
| 5 | Opening team sets up wave 1 | Wave 1 stores | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | Wave 1 stores open | Wave 1 stores | Milestone | 5 |
| 7 | Review wave 1 trading and update the playbook | Programme | 5 | 6+5 |
| 8 | Sign leases for wave 2 | Wave 2 stores | 10 | 3SS+10 |
| 9 | Fit out wave 2 stores | Wave 2 stores | 20 | 4SS+15, 8 |
| 10 | Opening team sets up wave 2 | Wave 2 stores | 5 | 5, 7, 9 |
| 11 | Wave 2 stores open | Wave 2 stores | Milestone | 10 |
| 12 | Sign leases for wave 3 | Wave 3 stores | 10 | 8SS+10 |
| 13 | Fit out wave 3 stores | Wave 3 stores | 20 | 9SS+15, 12 |
| 14 | Opening team sets up wave 3 | Wave 3 stores | 5 | 10, 13 |
| 15 | Wave 3 stores open | Wave 3 stores | Milestone | 14 |
| 16 | All stores trading | Handover | Milestone | 6, 11, 15 |
| 17 | Hand over to regional operations | Handover | 5 | 16 |
| 18 | Rollout complete | Handover | Milestone | 17 |
How it works
Group the stores into waves
Rename the wave groups and their tasks after your own regions or store lists. A wave is a set of stores that open together with the same team, so keep each one to what that team can open at once.
Set the fit-out pace
Change the start-to-start lag on "Fit out wave 2 stores" and "Fit out wave 3 stores" to how soon your contractors can start the next wave. It sets the pace in the template, so it is the number to check first.
Set the lease stagger
Change the start-to-start lags on "Sign leases for wave 2" and "Sign leases for wave 3" to how your property team signs. The leases have slack against the fit-outs in the template, so check that they still end before each fit-out starts.
Keep the opening team in one place
Leave the finish-to-start links between the set-up tasks while one team opens every wave. If a second team opens some of the waves, remove the link into the first set-up that team does.
Feed the review into the next wave
Keep "Review wave 1 trading and update the playbook" in front of "Opening team sets up wave 2". Add the same review after wave 2 if wave 3 should learn from it too.
Add owners, share and export
Put the property, fit-out and opening leads in People, share the chart as a link with the regional managers, and export a PDF or CSV for the board.
Frequently asked questions
How far apart should store openings be?
As far apart as the shared teams need. In the template the 15-day lag between fit-outs puts the waves 15 working days apart: they open after 40, 55 and 70 working days. Change the lag and the waves move with it, provided the leases and the opening team keep up.
Does it know how many fit-out crews or opening staff I have?
No. QueryChart does not plan capacity or level resources. The 15-day lag between fit-outs and the links between the set-up tasks are how the template draws one contractor and one opening team. If you add a crew, shorten the lag; if you add a team, remove a link.
Can I commit to a date for the last store?
Yes, as a check. Give "Approve the expansion plan and store list" a fixed Start on the day work begins and "All stores trading" a fixed Start on the date you have promised. The plan is scheduled forward from the earliest fixed Start, so if the three waves cannot all open by then, the milestone is flagged with a conflict naming the earliest date its dependencies allow.
What happens if the wave 1 review runs late?
"Opening team sets up wave 2" waits for it, so wave 2 opens later. In the template the review ends on the same day as "Fit out wave 2 stores", so any delay moves "Wave 2 stores open". Wave 3 moves too once the delay passes 10 working days, the room wave 3's set-up has after wave 2's.
Can I add a fourth wave?
Yes. Add a group with the same three tasks and a milestone, link its leases and its fit-out to wave 3's with the same start-to-start lags, link its set-up to wave 3's set-up, and add the new milestone to "All stores trading". For how the opening templates fit together, see /guides/new-location-opening-gantt-chart.