Store opening Gantt chart template: signed lease to grand opening
An editable store opening Gantt chart: lease and landlord works, fit-out permits, shop fit, fixtures, POS, stock, store team and a soft opening before the grand opening, with dependencies and milestones.
What the store opening gantt chart template: signed lease to grand opening process is
A shop opening has a date that customers, the landlord and head office all want to know early, and a few slow items that are partly in other people's hands decide it: the landlord's shell works, the review of your fit-out and signage permits, and fixtures that are made to order. Hiring, systems, stock and marketing are your own work and usually fit around them, but they are what people ask about first. A timeline shows which chain actually sets the opening and how much room the rest has, before the date is announced.
This template has five groups: Site and lease, Shop fit, Systems and stock, Store team and Opening. "Agree store format and budget" (4 working days) is the only starting task, and "Negotiate lease and landlord works" (10) follows it. "Lease signed" is the first gate: "Landlord completes shell works" (12), "Order fixtures and shelving", "Order POS, network and security systems" and "Recruit store manager" all wait for it. The design does not. "Design store layout and shop fit" (8) starts 5 days into the negotiation with a start-to-start link, so the layout is close to finished when the lease is signed and the permit application goes in three days later.
In the illustrative numbers the permit sets the date, not the keys. "Apply for fit-out and signage permits" (3) follows the design, and "Permit review" (15) is waiting time that ends 35 working days into the plan. "Keys handed over" is reached after 26, so the keys have nine working days of slack: "Carry out shop fit" (15) waits for both and starts when the review ends. The fixtures are the second long chain. "Fixture manufacture and delivery" (25) ends one working day before "Install fixtures and signage" (5) is due to start, 10 days into the shop fit, so a delivery more than a day late moves the opening. "Install and test POS and network" (4) starts 8 days into the shop fit, and the supplier lead times for systems and stock are drawn as lags on the arrows (15 and 20 working days).
From there the chain runs through the store itself. "Walk the store and fix the snag list" (4) waits for the shop fit and the fixture installation and ends in "Shop fit complete". "Receive and check opening stock" (4) waits for that milestone, although the stock lead time ends 15 working days earlier, because there is nowhere to put stock until the fit is done. "Merchandise the store" (4) and "Soft opening" (2) follow, and "Fix issues from the soft opening" (3) leads to "Grand opening" after 67 working days. The team and the campaign have room: "Train the team on systems and service" (5) waits for the hires and the systems install and ends 10 working days before the soft opening, and "Plan and run opening marketing" (15) ends 21 working days before it. All durations are illustrative; replace them with the landlord's dates, supplier quotes and what the building authority tells you.
A timeline schedules the work. It does not obtain a permit, pass an inspection or make the store ready to trade. The snag walk is a loop of its own, inspect, fix and check again, mapped step by step at /templates/construction-punch-list-process, and the people who own each group fit a retail structure such as /org-templates/retail-business-organizational-chart. For how this plan relates to the other opening templates, see /guides/new-location-opening-gantt-chart, and for drawing permits as waiting time and gates, see /guides/opening-permits-and-inspections-gantt-chart.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- Five groups, Site and lease, Shop fit, Systems and stock, Store team and Opening, with 26 tasks and four milestones: "Lease signed", "Keys handed over", "Shop fit complete" and "Grand opening".
- A design that starts before the lease: "Design store layout and shop fit" begins 5 days into "Negotiate lease and landlord works" and feeds "Apply for fit-out and signage permits".
- A 15-day "Permit review" in front of "Carry out shop fit", which also waits for "Keys handed over"; in the illustrative numbers the permit, not the keys, sets its start.
- Two kinds of lead time beside the fit: "Fixture manufacture and delivery" (25 working days) ahead of "Install fixtures and signage", and supplier lags on the arrows from "Order POS, network and security systems" and "Order opening stock".
- An opening sequence after "Walk the store and fix the snag list": "Shop fit complete", "Receive and check opening stock", "Merchandise the store", "Soft opening", "Fix issues from the soft opening" and "Grand opening".
When to use this template
- You are opening a new shop and need one plan for the landlord, the fit-out contractor, suppliers, the store manager and head office.
- You want to see whether the permit review, the landlord's works or the fixture lead time decides the opening date.
- Head office wants a grand opening date and you want to compare the finish date with it before it is announced.
- You open stores regularly and want a standard plan to resize for each new site.
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 | Agree store format and budget | Site and lease | 4 | |
| 2 | Negotiate lease and landlord works | Site and lease | 10 | 1 |
| 3 | Lease signed | Site and lease | Milestone | 2 |
| 4 | Landlord completes shell works | Site and lease | 12 | 3 |
| 5 | Keys handed over | Site and lease | Milestone | 4 |
| 6 | Design store layout and shop fit | Shop fit | 8 | 2SS+5 |
| 7 | Apply for fit-out and signage permits | Shop fit | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | Permit review | Shop fit | 15 | 7 |
| 9 | Order fixtures and shelving | Shop fit | 2 | 3, 6 |
| 10 | Fixture manufacture and delivery | Shop fit | 25 | 9 |
| 11 | Carry out shop fit | Shop fit | 15 | 5, 8 |
| 12 | Install fixtures and signage | Shop fit | 5 | 10, 11SS+10 |
| 13 | Walk the store and fix the snag list | Shop fit | 4 | 11, 12 |
| 14 | Shop fit complete | Shop fit | Milestone | 13 |
| 15 | Order POS, network and security systems | Systems and stock | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | Install and test POS and network | Systems and stock | 4 | 11SS+8, 15+15 |
| 17 | Order opening stock | Systems and stock | 2 | 6 |
| 18 | Receive and check opening stock | Systems and stock | 4 | 14, 17+20 |
| 19 | Merchandise the store | Systems and stock | 4 | 18 |
| 20 | Recruit store manager | Store team | 15 | 3 |
| 21 | Hire the store team | Store team | 15 | 20SS+10 |
| 22 | Train the team on systems and service | Store team | 5 | 16, 21 |
| 23 | Plan and run opening marketing | Opening | 15 | 5 |
| 24 | Soft opening | Opening | 2 | 19, 22, 23 |
| 25 | Fix issues from the soft opening | Opening | 3 | 24 |
| 26 | Grand opening | Opening | Milestone | 25 |
How it works
Set the lease gate
Keep "Lease signed" as the milestone that the landlord's works, the orders and recruitment follow. If design starts later or earlier for you, change the start-to-start lag on "Design store layout and shop fit".
Replace the permit wait
Set "Permit review" from what the building authority tells you, or from your last store in the same area. It sets the date in the template, so check it before any other duration.
Enter the landlord and supplier dates
Set "Landlord completes shell works" from the landlord's programme and "Fixture manufacture and delivery" from the supplier's quote. The systems and stock lead times are lags in the Depends on column of "Install and test POS and network" and "Receive and check opening stock"; set them to the quoted working days.
Leave time for the snag list
Keep "Walk the store and fix the snag list" between the fit and the stock, and give it enough days for a second walk. Stock and merchandising cannot start until "Shop fit complete".
Check the chain that sets the date
Open View > Critical path. In the template it runs from the format and the lease negotiation through the permit review, the shop fit, the snag list, stock, merchandising and the soft opening. When your own durations change the chain, the highlight follows. For more on reading it, see /guides/gantt-chart-critical-path.
Add owners, share and export
Put the store manager, the fit-out lead and the buyer in People, share the chart as a link with the landlord and the contractor, and export a PDF or CSV for head office.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to open a retail store?
It depends on the lease, the landlord's works, the permit review and how long fixtures take. The template uses illustrative working days and reaches "Grand opening" after 67 of them, a little over 13 working weeks. Replace them with your own numbers and read the finish date from the chart.
Can I plan to a fixed opening date?
Yes, as a check. Give "Agree store format and budget" a fixed Start on the day the work begins, then give "Grand opening" a fixed Start on your target date. Pin the first task too: the plan starts on the earliest fixed Start and is scheduled forward from there. If the work before the opening needs more working days than there are, the milestone is flagged with a conflict naming the earliest date its dependencies allow; if there is room, you see a gap before it.
Why does the shop fit wait for the permit and not the keys?
Both are dependencies, and the later one decides. In the illustrative numbers the keys arrive nine working days before "Permit review" ends, so the review sets the start of "Carry out shop fit". If your landlord's works take longer, the keys become the driver and the critical path moves to them.
Does the template track the fit-out budget?
No. "Agree store format and budget" is a task in the plan, but the chart holds no costs and does not track spending. Keep the budget and the purchase orders in your own records and use Notes to say where they are.
Can I use it for more than one store?
For each store on its own, yes: make one chart per site. When several stores share one fit-out contractor and one opening team, the multi-store template at /templates/multi-store-opening-gantt-chart staggers leases, fit-outs and set-up in waves.