Boost your retail image with the right fit of floor

There are several factors to take into consideration when selecting retail floor finishes. The obvious one's are:

• Cost vs coverage: do you have a large hypermarket or a small boutique?
  
• Durability and maintenance: do you have high foot traffic? Do you sell clothes, groceries or both?
  
• Aesthetics vs practicality: is this a high-end luxury store or a mass-market warehouse?

Boutique brilliance

Let's start with the small boutique. With limited floor space, you would not have to be too concerned with the cost of covering miles. As it's unlikely anyone will be traipsing around with open food cartons, maintenance would also fall to the bottom of the list. No, the focus would be on aesthetic appeal. What would the floor say about you? What kind of atmosphere do you want to create through a choice of covering - plush carpets, exotic wood floors or perhaps a glossy marble tile?

There is a small craft market in my local mall that has the most exquisite raised hardwood floor. I love walking in there and hearing the soft thump, thump, thump of footfall echoing between its three high aisles. It also helps me keep track of where in the store my not-quite-three-year-old son is at any time. Just listen for the thundering of little feet.

However, while this gives a quaint Pixie Hollow flavour to this little store, there are several situations where this floor would be disastrous. For instance, large open spaces with low racks or shelf space and high ceilings where the sound of hundreds of footsteps would just bounce around, gaining momentum and never being absorbed by anything until there is such a din, shoppers would be droned right out of the shop.

High foot traffic on wood floors can also be murder on the finish, so if you like the idea of a wood look but want to spare the cost of maintenance, laminate floors are a good option. Not only are they cheaper and easier to install than hardwood floors, they're also scratch resistant. Again, if the lack of sound absorption is going to be an issue, there are always imitation wood ceramic tiles.

Warming up customers' reception

Carpets are a tricky option. In small high-end stores, plush thick piles waft luxury but much like the store's wares, are going to be expensive. In high-traffic stores, carpets just do not seem practical. Nevertheless, that is not to say they cannot be done.

My local branch of an electronic chain store and a sporting goods store seem to have acquired the right mix - low pile, durable carpet squares, which can be maintained with relative ease. In these large noisy areas, the carpet tiles provide good sound absorption as well as an air of warmth in what would otherwise be a very cold environment.

Obviously, spillage is not a main concern, but should some child have an accident and spill a bright orange drink all over a section, these carpets are generally easy to clean and dark colours should help hide any permanent stains. Worst case scenario, pull up the neat square sections and replace with new ones.

Mix 'n match

I remember a time when department stores tried to balance the best of both worlds: durable, low cost, practical tiles on the main drag, with a nice soft medium pile carpet where traffic thins out into its various sections - clothing, kitchenware, linens - you get the idea. However, as nice as this feels underfoot, they will eventually wear out. Moreover, even though they are usually nondescript beige, there is only so much dirt they can absorb before it becomes noticeable.

These days, department stores are still striving for this equilibrium of durability, aesthetics and practicality, but they have become smarter about it. Gone is the thicker, camel-coloured carpeting - it's not as if anyone should be scuffing their toes in the pile anyway; it has been replaced with a shorter (albeit harder), stain-resistant fibrous layer. While these do not ooze luxury quite like their predecessors, they are smart, practical and won't cost a fortune in long-term up-keep.

White tiles score in hard areas

Concrete screed flooring is a very selective look and unless boiler room-chic is what you're is going for, this particular brand of durable, low-cost, low-maintenance look should be left to the mass-market industry where price (the lower, the better) is of more concern than any aesthetic appeal.

This brings me to the middleman - the humble white tile. Popular with hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores the world over. They're cheap, mass produced, easy to clean (mop up in aisle five!) and, while they won't win 'best dressed' at the prom, aren't ugly either. Yup, they're about as practical as a pair of hiking boots up Mount Kilimanjaro.

You would think it does not take much brainpower to pick a standard tile to cover several thousand square metres of floor space. In many instances, it would seem selection was a case of "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe - that glossy cheap one there." Easy... until someone breaks a hip.

It is this reason that amazes me about the choice of flooring in these big supermarkets. I would like to propose that when choosing said standard tile, that that person take a couple steps - literally - in someone else's shoes, before pointing out the cheapest, glossiest tile available. Like my child's size 9s for instance. But why, you ask.

Treacherous tiles

Let me paint a scenario: for some unknown reason, many children's shoes are made with PVC soles, which offer next to no grip on this particular choice of big retail store tile. Ironically, these shoes are actually sold by one of these particular retailers.

As a mother, consumer, key decision-maker, by the fifth time I have picked my poor child off your floor, I am tired, annoyed and ready to cut my shopping trip short. The next time I come, I'm likely to leave him behind, which means I'm not going to be suckered into buying all the little treats you so conveniently stock at the checkout counter.

However, maybe I am the only sucker to have wound up buying her child two pairs of PVC-soled shoes in the space of four months. Why should you care about my poor taste in kid's footwear?

Ok, how about this: a little old lady takes a nasty spill on your shiny floors and breaks a hip. You're forking out hospital fees, flowers and goodie baskets faster than you can say 'lawsuit'. Never mind all this damage control you're going to have to expend time, money and resources on, you're also going to have to ensure it doesn't happen again. Non-slip strips at best, completely new tiles at worst.

All something you could have avoided if only you had placed a little more importance on your selection of flooring and taken a few steps in someone else's shoes.

So whether you own an upmarket bespoke store or retail behemoth, don't ever underestimate what your choice of flooring can say and do for you.