Cleaning a shop

Commercial shop cleaning is most often done by untrained shop workers who are pushed into cleaning their shops as part of their jobs.

Some may have little experience in commercial cleaning, but keeping a shop looking clean and tidy is important if you’re to attract customers and get them to come back. To keep your staff customer-focussed, reduce their cleaning duties to a minimum by using commercial cleaning contractor to come in either every evening or every morning to make sure it’s all looking beautiful for the staff and customers when it’s time to open.

Of course, not every shop is able to afford a daily commercial cleaner, so you might consider a weekly cleaner visit to take care of the bigger cleaning duties, which still lightens the load for your shop staff. And if that isn’t possible, you’ll need to think carefully about how you approach your shop cleaning so everyone pulls their weight.

By setting up a timetable and checklist you’ll be able to keep on top of cleaning your shop, but you should also go through the cleaning ritual with your staff and with new starters, so they are aware of the standards you expect.

It’s best to do the shop cleaning when there are no customers – so, at the beginning or end of the day. To inspire your staff’s pride in the shop, it’s better to do the cleaning in the evening, before everyone goes home. Sure, it may take a little more time and it’s not the most delightful thing to do after a day on your feet, but it certainly beats arriving at work knowing you have to clean it all before you can even start the day.

During the day, it can be tempting to whip out the vacuum a little early, but resist. A little dusting, straightening up – *quiet tasks *– can well take that urge to clean away a little.

Straightening up can be a huge task in itself if it’s not kept in check. If yours is a clothing shop, you’ll be folding and hanging all day. To heighten customer experience, try to stack and hang items in order of size. If you have a boutique with gifts and trinkets adorning your shelves there’ll be a lot of dusting involved. What about using a non-static duster daily, but then daily rotate one of the lengths of shelves and giving it a good clean, with cleaner. A great anti-static is fabric softener mixed with water and put in a spray bottle. Cleaning your shelves with this solution will resist dust and give the shop a lovely smell to boot.

When you’re doing your daily cleaning chores pay close attention to cleaning the window display and cleaning the cash desk. These are where you interact with your customer. Avoid having gaps on the shelves: fill them with extra stock, and if you have a lot of something you need to sell put it in a prominent position and make it look attractive – make a spectacle of it. Avoid leaving boxes and cleaning products around the shop keep everything neatly stored away. Wipe down the rails, not just the shelves, vacuum under the rails, not just the main floor area. When you come to cleaning, work from the back of the shop to the front from left to right and from top to bottom; this way you will clean quickly and efficiently, mean you can lock up and go home sooner.

A clean shop will keep customers coming back time and again, and will keep your staff motivated and loyal.