How to open a retail store in 2026

The lease is the decision — read the guaranty, the CAM and the build-out before anything else. "Many commercial landlords require that a guarantor secure the obligations and liabilities of a tenant as a prerequisite for entering into a lease." and "Under a traditional Good Guy Guaranty, which is common in New York City, the guarantor's liability is terminated upon the tenant's surrender of the premises." (Holland & Knight, September 19, 2023); "When you are a small business owner negotiating a commercial retail or office lease, your landlord will likely require you to sign a personal guaranty for your company's obligations under the lease." and "any attempts to limit the scope of a personal guaranty should be raised early in the lease negotiation process and, preferably, during the letter of intent stage." (Perkins Law, January 14, 2026); "CAM charges can add thousands of dollars per year to your costs, and the definitions of what counts as a "common area expense" vary widely from lease to lease." and "When you add CAM charges, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and buildout costs, the actual cost of occupying the space can be 30 to 50 percent higher than the listed rent." (Turley Law, July 13, 2026) — a law firm's estimate, labeled as one. The rent itself: "Annual asking rent growth slowed to 2.2% year-over-year (YOY), with national asking rents reaching $25.82 per square foot (psf)." (Cushman & Wakefield, Q3 2026) — about $2,582 a month on 1,200 square feet, our arithmetic; the plan prices $20 to $35 a square foot around it. A tenant-improvement allowance is a negotiable line no page we read prices. Zoning before the signature: "Neighborhoods are generally zoned for either commercial or residential use. Zoning ordinances can restrict or entirely ban specific kinds of businesses from operating in an area." (SBA); Greenville's zoning permits are the city's (City of Greenville).

The paperwork, by state — the seller's permit first, because it is also the resale certificate. No state we read licenses "retail" as an occupation; the registration that binds is the sales-tax one. Texas: "There is no fee for the permit, but you may be required to post a security bond." (Texas Comptroller), and the rate: "Texas imposes a 6.25 percent state sales and use tax on all retail sales, leases and rentals of most goods, as well as taxable services. Local taxing jurisdictions (cities, counties, special purpose districts and transit authorities) can also impose up to 2 percent sales and use tax for a maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent." (Texas Comptroller) — "Food products are not taxable." (the Comptroller's grocery rule) and "The 2027 sales tax holiday begins Friday, Aug. 6, and goes through midnight Sunday, Aug. 8." (the holiday page). Florida: register online with the Department of Revenue — "Florida's general state sales tax rate is 6%" (Florida Department of Revenue) — and the registration brings the "Florida Annual Resale Certificate for Sales Tax" (the resale certificate page); the 2026 back-to-school holiday "begins Monday, July 20" (the holiday page). New York: "Every person who sells taxable tangible personal property or taxable services (even if you make sales from your home, are a temporary vendor, or only sell once a year) must register with the Tax Department through New York Business Express before beginning business." (New York Department of Taxation, July 25, 2025) — "If you will be making sales in New York State that are subject to sales tax, you must register with the Tax Department and obtain a Certificate of Authority." (Tax Bulletin ST-360, October 21, 2026); in the city, "Clothing and footwear under $110 are exempt from New York City and NY State sales tax." and the rate is "a total sales and use tax of 8.875 percent" (NYC Finance). California: "The CDTFA has a secure, convenient, fast, and free way to register online for a permit." (CDTFA); "The statewide tax rate is 7.25%. In most areas of California, local jurisdictions have added district taxes that increase the tax owed by a seller. Those district tax rates range from 0.10% to 2.00%." (CDTFA). South Carolina, the plan's state: "Every retailer shall obtain a retail license for each permanent branch, establishment, or agency and pay a license tax of fifty dollars for each retail license at the time of application." (S.C. Code §12-36-510) — $50, applied for online (South Carolina Department of Revenue); "The statewide Sales & Use Tax rate is 6%." and "Counties may impose an additional 1% local sales tax if voters in that county approve the tax." (the Department's sales-tax page) — Greenville County shows no local tax on the Department's May 1, 2026 county list (form ST-500), so 6 percent at the register. The entity is a choice: a sole proprietor can hold the permit and sign the lease in their own name. The LLC where you want it: "for filing a certificate of formation, $300;" in Texas (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code §4.152); "For filing original articles of organization or articles of revocation of dissolution, $100." plus "$25" for the registered agent in Florida (Fla. Stat. §605.0213) — $125; "two hundred dollars" in New York (N.Y. LLC Law §1101) — $200 — plus the notice "published once in each week for six successive weeks, in two newspapers of the county" (§206); "Seventy dollars ($70)" in California (Cal. Gov. Code §12190) plus "a minimum franchise tax of eight hundred dollars ($800)" a year (Rev. & Tax. Code §23153); South Carolina organizes an LLC "by delivering articles of organization to the office of the Secretary of State for filing" (S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 44) at a fee the Secretary of State's site prints and refuses to a scripted reader. The EIN is free from the IRS. Confirm the details with your accountant.

The building: the certificate of occupancy, the sign, the city license, the fire permit, the ADA. "A Certificate of Occupancy (CO) states a legal use and/or type of permitted occupancy of a building. New buildings must have a CO, and existing buildings must have a current or amended CO when there is a change in use, egress or type of occupancy." (NYC Department of Buildings); in Greenville the permit center handles it (City of Greenville), and Houston's permitting center refuses a scripted reader, so ask it directly. The sign permit comes from the city's zoning code (City of Greenville, signs); no fee prints in the page. The city license where the city has one: "All businesses conducting business within the City of Greenville are required to have a business license." (City of Greenville) — a fee on gross receipts the city's calculator sets; "If your business (from LLC to 1099) is within the City of Los Angeles, you must register for a Business Tax Registration Certificate." (City of Los Angeles); Texas has no statewide business license and New York City none for general retail — the registrations above are what exist there. A build-out that touches alarms or sprinklers needs the fire department's permit (Greenville's fire prevention permits). The federal duty on every shop: "A public accommodation shall remove architectural barriers in existing facilities, including communication barriers that are structural in nature, where such removal is readily achievable, i.e., easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense." (28 CFR §36.304).

What you sell, and the rules at the register. A recalled product may not be sold — the Consumer Product Safety Act's prohibition covers a product "subject to voluntary corrective action taken by the manufacturer, in consultation with the Commission, of which action the Commission has notified the public" (15 U.S.C. §2068) — so the recall list is a weekly check; California's Proposition 65 requires a "clear and reasonable warning" on a product with a listed chemical (OEHHA). Gift cards: "it shall be unlawful for any person to sell or issue a gift certificate, store gift card, or general-use prepaid card that is subject to an expiration date" unless "the expiration date is not earlier than 5 years after the date on which the gift certificate was issued" (15 U.S.C. §1693l-1); Florida bars an expiration date or a post-sale fee outright (Fla. Stat. §501.95); "A gift certificate sold without an expiration date is valid until redeemed or replaced." (Cal. Civ. Code §1749.5); New York's rule is "Acceptance of unexpired gift certificates" (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §396-i); Texas defines the "stored value card", which "includes a gift card or gift certificate" (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §604.001) — ask your accountant whether unredeemed balances are reportable in your state. The refund policy: "Every retail mercantile establishment and online retailer shall conspicuously post, in the following manner, its refund policy as to all goods, wares or merchandise offered to the public for sale" (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §218-a) — the same section binds the shop and the site; "Every retail seller which sells goods to the public in this state that has a policy as to any of those goods of not giving full cash or credit refunds, or of not allowing equal exchanges, or any combination thereof, for at least seven days following purchase of the goods if they are returned and proof of their purchase is presented, shall conspicuously display that policy" (Cal. Civ. Code §1723); Florida requires the sign if you give no refunds, and "Upon a second and any subsequent violation, a local government may impose a fine of up to $50 per violation." (Fla. Stat. §501.142); Texas has no posting statute that we read. Bags: California's rule changed on January 1, 2026 — "Until January 1, 2026, these stores may sell reusable plastic bags made with recycled content or recycled paper bags." (CalRecycle); check your city before you order them. Music: a shop with "less than 2,000 gross square feet of space (excluding space used for customer parking and for no other purpose)" may play a radio or television broadcast without a license (17 U.S.C. §110(5)(B)); a personal streaming playlist is not a broadcast. Alcohol and tobacco are different businesses with their own state licenses.

The money to start — and the "$39,210" that is a software vendor's own survey. From the pages that open on October 26, 2026: "$299 or $27/mo over 12 months" for a Square Terminal, "$899 or $44/mo over 24 months" for a Register, "$149 or $14/mo over 12 months" for the Stand and "$59" for the Reader (Square's US hardware page); the free plan's rate "Tap, dip, or swipe: 2.6% + 15¢" and the Plus plan's "Tap, dip, or swipe: 2.5% + 15¢" (Square's fee page) — about $744 a month on the plan's $25,000 across 625 sales on the free plan and $719 on Plus, our arithmetic; the Plus plan's $49 a month is rendered by script on Square's pages and carried as the 2026 price guides reproduce it. South Carolina's $50 retail license (above) and the $299 Terminal: $349, our arithmetic — one-time, before the lease, the fixtures and the stock; $109 with the $59 Reader and your own phone. The recurring layer is separate: the $2,582 of rent above, and "Retail stores pay an average of $42 per month, or $500 per year, for general liability insurance." and "Retail businesses pay an average of $95 per month, or $1,136 per year, for a business owner's policy." (Insureon, retail, updated January 3, 2025) — $2,624 a month for the rent and the liability policy, our arithmetic, before the stock and the part-timer; workers' compensation for a retail company "costs an average of $86 per month, or $1,036 per year" on the same page. The fixtures and the stock are the real money and no vendor page prints them in text — Uline's gondola the plan priced is a "Discontinued Item" and the fixture vendors render their prices by script — so the plan page carries them as planning ranges: $3,000 to $12,000 of fixtures, $15,000 to $40,000 of opening inventory at wholesale, "about two months of sales at the target", and the plan page's whole $35,309–$105,409 adds the lease deposit and first month, the build-out, the signage, the security, the supplies, the grand opening and two months of working capital. The AI answer's "$39,210" is a software vendor's own survey (above); "under $5,000" for a stall and "6 months" of buffer appear on no page that opens.

The first hire. The minimum wage is the state's where it is higher than the federal "$7.25 an hour" (29 U.S.C. §206), which South Carolina and Texas use; "Effective January 1, 2026, the minimum wage is $16.90 per hour for all employers, not otherwise covered by a higher minimum wage specific to an industry or a locality." in California (California's labor agency); the Department of Labor's state table refuses a scripted reader, so check your own state's page. Workers' compensation: "an employer may elect to obtain workers' compensation insurance coverage" in Texas (Tex. Labor Code §406.002); "four or more employees" in Florida (Fla. Stat. §440.02); the covered employments in New York reach nearly all of them (N.Y. Workers' Compensation Law §3); "Every employer except the state" in California (Cal. Labor Code §3700); "all private employments in which four or more employees are regularly employed in the same business or establishment" in South Carolina (S.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 1). Confirm your own state's rule with your accountant.

In the UK: no license to open a shop that sells ordinary goods; the company, if you form one, registers with Companies House — "It costs £100 and can be paid by debit or credit card. Your company is usually registered within 24 hours." (GOV.UK); VAT once "VAT taxable turnover is more than £90,000" (GOV.UK); business rates on the premises, with relief for a small shop — "You will not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, if that's the only property your business uses." (GOV.UK); a shop that sells alcohol needs a premises license from the council (GOV.UK); and the inversion of the US as-sold sale — the Consumer Rights Act gives a short-term right to reject faulty goods within "30 days" (Consumer Rights Act 2015, s.22). In Australia: the shop takes a free ABN (business.gov.au) and registers for GST, which "is a tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia", once "your business has a GST turnover of $75,000 or more" (business.gov.au) — A$75,000; the consumer guarantees bind every sale, with goods required to "be of an acceptable quality" (business.gov.au); retail leases are state law — the New South Wales Retail Leases Act requires a disclosure statement before signing, and its text refuses a scripted reader, so your state's small business commissioner publishes the lease rules. Check your own regulator's rules.