How to Measure a Retail Shop Correctly

Measuring a retail shop for leasing purposes isn't the same as measuring an office tenancy or an industrial unit, retail tenancies follow their own methodology, and it's easy to get wrong if you're not familiar with it.

Retail Uses GLA-Retail, Not NLA

Retail tenancies within shopping centres, commercial buildings and strip retail are measured using Gross Lettable Area – Retail (GLA-R), a distinct methodology from both standard GLA (used for industrial and showroom space) and NLA (used for office space). Applying the wrong one produces the wrong figure.

What Gets Measured

For a typical retail shop, the measurement boundary generally runs to:

• The centre line of walls shared with adjoining tenancies
• The inside face of external or common area walls
• The tenancy side of the shopfront line, including any recessed shopfront area, treated according to the specific centre or building's leasing rules

Common Areas That Trip People Up

• Shopfront recesses and entry alcoves — whether these count toward GLA-R depends on the specific centre or landlord's rules, this is a frequent source of disagreement
• Storage and back-of-house areas — generally included if they're within the tenancy's demised area
• Shared loading docks or service corridors — generally excluded, since they're common area, not exclusive to the tenancy

Why Accuracy Matters More in Retail

Retail rent is very often structured with a base rent plus a percentage of turnover, and outgoings are apportioned across the whole centre based on each tenancy's GLA-R relative to the centre's total. An inaccurate measurement on one tenancy doesn't just affect that lease, it skews the outgoings apportionment for every other tenant in the centre too.

Getting It Right the First Time

The safest approach is an on-site measurement against the specific centre's leasing rules and the PCA methodology, rather than relying on an old plan or a rough measurement from a previous fitout. Retail spaces also get modified frequently between tenants, so a measurement that was accurate for the last tenant may not be accurate for the current layout.

How Arya Designs Can Help

We measure retail tenancies on site and calculate GLA-Retail to the correct methodology, whether it's a single shop or a full shopping centre. See our Gross Lettable Area (GLA) Measurement service.

Ready to Get Started?

Send us the shop address and centre details, and we'll provide a fixed quote for an accurate GLA-Retail measurement.