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A storefront or shopfront is the facade or entryway of a
Before the middle of the 19th century, shop fronts did not have large display windows, but often included features such as
A storefront or shopfront is the facade or entryway of a retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...
store located on the ground floor or street level of a commercial building, typically including one or more display window
A display window, also a shop window (British English) or store window (American English), is a window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in t ...
s. A storefront functions to attract visual attention to a business and its merchandise.
History
Before the middle of the 19th century, shop fronts did not have large display windows, but often included features such as awning
An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of Acrylic fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tight ...
s and bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...
s to attract the attention of passersby. Modern storefronts with display windows developed at mid-century after architectural cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
became widely available and glass manufacturers began producing large panes of glass at relatively low cost.
In the United States, storefronts with large windows become available after 1883, when the Pittsburgh Plate Glass
PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By ...
company started to produce plate glass. Also architects started to experiment with iron column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
s and lintels at the ground floor level.The combination of these two achievements led to the storefront as we know it today. By the 1920s, storefront plans with deep display windows, known as the “arcaded” front, had become popular.
Storefront designs
The storefronts of commercial buildings are often substantially altered even when other architectural elements remain intact. Such alterations can adversely affect a historic building's architectural and historic character. Storefronts can also have an area in front of the unit called a "pop-out zone", which is about 500-1000 mm deep. Storefronts often use channel letters.Other uses
E-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
websites are sometimes called "online storefronts" or "virtual storefronts".
See also
*Brick and mortar
Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...
* Boutique
A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...
* Digital economy
* Digital currency
Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...
* Online shopping
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of th ...
* shopping cart
A shopping cart (American English), trolley (British English, Australian English), or buggy (Southern American English, Appalachian English), also known by a variety of #Name, other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a Retail#Types of ret ...
* Storefront church
* Storefront school
References
Retail buildings E-commerce Electronics industry {{architecturalelement-stub