What is a Store Layout Review?

It's a fixed-fee, independent read on how your supermarket trades. You send your plan, or a store capture where no plan exists, and within ten working days get it back marked up with the problems drawn on it, a department-by-department findings report, a prioritised fix list, and a 45-minute call to walk through it. GRD has no fridges, cabinets or shelving to sell, so every finding is judged on one thing: will it drive footfall and sales, cut setup cost, or make the store easier to run.

How much does a Store Layout Review cost?

A fixed R9,500 for stores up to 1,000 m2, or R14,500 for stores over 1,000 m2 or with multiple serviced departments. It's paid in full up front, with no hourly creep and no surprise invoice at the end. If you then go ahead into a full design engagement with GRD, the review fee is credited back in full.

What do I get from a Store Layout Review?

Four things. A marked-up layout drawing - your own plan handed back with flow problems, wrong adjacencies, wasted metres of run, congestion points and missed impulse zones drawn on it. A findings report department by department, from the entrance through to the checkouts and the back that feeds them, every point tied to sales, cost or operations. A prioritised fix list split into no-cost, low-cost and capital moves. And a 45-minute call with Daniel to talk it through.

Do you need to visit my store to do the review?

No. The review works off your plan, or off a store capture (a simple set of photos and measurements) where no plan exists. That keeps it fixed-price and quick, and means the store can be reviewed wherever it is. A physical site visit isn't included, but can be quoted separately for stores within reach.

What if I don't have a plan or drawing of my store?

You don't need one to start. Ask for the store capture guide and it walks you through the photos and measurements to send instead. GRD works the review off that.

I'm not building or revamping - is a review still worth it?

Often yes. Stores drift: a department outgrows its run, congestion builds at the front, the fresh corner ends up in the wrong place. Left alone, those problems wait until a full revamp around year ten, when they cost capital to fix. Caught earlier, most are a no-cost or low-cost move. Used as a year-three check-up, the review pays for itself in the fixes it finds while they're still cheap.

Is a Store Layout Review a redesign?

No. No new layout is drawn. The review tells you what's wrong and what to fix, and gives you a prioritised fix list; drawing the new layout is a separate design engagement. Findings are advisory, based on the drawings and information you supply, not construction or building-control documentation.

Their layout sells fridges. This one sells groceries.

The Store Layout Review — an independent, fixed-fee read on how your store trades. Send your plan; ten working days later you get it back marked up, with a department-by-department findings report and a prioritised fix list.

Planning a new store or a revamp? Start here.

Right now you have two options: commission a full design, or carry on with the free layout your fridge supplier or shopfitter drew you. The review is the step in between. For a fixed fee, GRD reads your plan the way a shopper reads your store, and tells you where it leaks footfall, where it is wasting setup money, and what will make it harder to run — before you spend a rand on shelving or steel. Go ahead into a full design afterwards and the review costs you nothing.

The free layout isn’t free.

A refrigeration supplier will draw you a layout for nothing. So will a shopfitter. But that drawing has a job to do — sell you their fridges, fill your floor with their shelving. It’s laid out around their equipment, not around your trade.

The Store Layout Review is independent. GRD has no fridges, cabinets or gondolas to sell, only judgement about how a supermarket actually trades. Every finding is weighed on three tests: will it drive footfall and sales, will it cut setup cost, and will it make the store easier to run.

What you get

A marked-up layout drawing — your own plan handed back with the problems drawn on it: where flow breaks, where departments sit wrong next to each other, wasted metres of run, congestion points, and the impulse zones you’re leaving on the table.
A findings report, department by department — parking and entrance through to the checkouts, front of house and the back that feeds it, every point tied to footfall and sales, setup cost, or daily operations. Findings on your actual store, not generic best practice.
A prioritised fix list — what to change first, split into no-cost moves, low-cost moves, and the items that need capital, so you can act on the free wins straight away.
A 45-minute call to walk through the findings with Daniel.

See what R9,500 buys

This is a real GRD Store Layout Review of an independent full-line supermarket, anonymised. The owner’s own plan, handed back with the findings marked over it in five colours — flow, adjacency, wasted run, missed impulse — each mark tied to a grid cell and a costed fix. Nothing on it is generic. Every point is about this store.

Want the detail? A two-page extract of this findings report is yours on request — just ask when you enquire below.

What it deliberately is not

Not a redesign. No new layout is drawn. The review tells you what’s wrong and what to fix; drawing the new layout is the next engagement.
Not construction documentation. Findings are advice, based on the drawings and information you supply.
No site visit. The review works off your plan, or off a store capture where no plan exists. A visit can be quoted separately for local stores.
Not open-ended. One drawing set, one report, one call. Anything further becomes a design engagement.

Turnaround

Ten working days from receiving usable drawings or a usable store capture. GRD takes a limited number of reviews each month so each one gets proper attention, so it’s worth booking early.

How it works

Send your plan, or ask for the store capture guide, and GRD reviews and marks it up. You get the report and the fix list, then a 45-minute walkthrough call, then into design if you choose — with the review fee credited.

Price

Up to 1,000 m² — R9,500. Over 1,000 m² or multi-department — R14,500. Paid in full up front. No hourly creep, no surprise invoice at the end.

And if you go ahead, the review is free. The full review fee is credited against your first design engagement with GRD, provided that engagement is signed within 90 days of your review payment and meets the qualifying value: R15,000 or more where the review fee was R9,500, or R25,000 or more where it was R14,500. The credit applies once, to a single design engagement, and can’t be transferred or taken as cash. If no qualifying engagement is signed within 90 days, the review fee stands as paid.

Already trading? The year-three check-up.

You don’t need a build or a revamp on the table to use this. Stores drift. A layout that worked on opening day slowly stops working: a department outgrows its run, congestion builds at the front, the fresh corner ends up in the wrong place. Most owners live with it until a full revamp around year ten — and by then the fixes cost capital. Caught at year three, most of the same problems are a no-cost or low-cost move. The Store Layout Review works as exactly that check-up: an independent read on a trading store, while the fixes are still cheap.

More on how stores leak footfall between revamps: Planning a Supermarket Revamp to Lift Footfall

Have your layout reviewed

It’s a fixed-fee, independent read on how your supermarket trades. You send your plan, or a store capture where no plan exists, and within ten working days get it back marked up with the problems drawn on it, a department-by-department findings report, a prioritised fix list, and a 45-minute call to walk through it. GRD has no fridges, cabinets or shelving to sell, so every finding is judged on one thing: will it drive footfall and sales, cut setup cost, or make the store easier to run.
A fixed R9,500 for stores up to 1,000 m², or R14,500 for stores over 1,000 m² or with multiple serviced departments. It’s paid in full up front, with no hourly creep and no surprise invoice at the end. If you then go ahead into a full design engagement with GRD, the review fee is credited back in full.
Yes. The full review fee is credited against your first design engagement with GRD, provided that engagement is signed within 90 days of your review payment and meets the qualifying value: R15,000 or more where the review fee was R9,500, or R25,000 or more where it was R14,500. The credit applies once, to a single engagement, and can’t be transferred or taken as cash. If no qualifying engagement is signed within 90 days, the review fee stands as paid.
Four things. A marked-up layout drawing — your own plan handed back with flow problems, wrong adjacencies, wasted metres of run, congestion points and missed impulse zones drawn on it. A findings report department by department, from the entrance through to the checkouts and the back that feeds them, every point tied to sales, cost or operations. A prioritised fix list split into no-cost, low-cost and capital moves. And a 45-minute call with Daniel to talk it through.
No. The review works off your plan, or off a store capture (a simple set of photos and measurements) where no plan exists. That keeps it fixed-price and quick, and means the store can be reviewed wherever it is. A physical site visit isn't included, but can be quoted separately for stores within reach.
You don't need one to start. Ask for the store capture guide and it walks you through the photos and measurements to send instead. GRD works the review off that.
Ten working days from receiving usable drawings or a usable store capture. GRD takes a limited number of reviews each month so each one gets proper attention, so it's worth booking early if you're working to a build or revamp date.
Often yes. Stores drift: a department outgrows its run, congestion builds at the front, the fresh corner ends up in the wrong place. Left alone, those problems wait until a full revamp around year ten, when they cost capital to fix. Caught earlier, most are a no-cost or low-cost move. Used as a year-three check-up, the review pays for itself in the fixes it finds while they're still cheap.
No. No new layout is drawn. The review tells you what's wrong and what to fix, and gives you a prioritised fix list; drawing the new layout is a separate design engagement. Findings are advisory, based on the drawings and information you supply, not construction or building-control documentation.