Signage Checklist For Opening a Café or Shop

Start With What People See From the Street

Before anyone orders a coffee or walks through your door, they see your shop from the outside. That first impression comes down to a few key things.

At minimum, you want:

• Your name, clearly visible from a distance.

• A hint of what you are (“Espresso & toasties”, “Books & gifts”, “Fresh flowers daily”).

• Your opening hours and how to contact you.

This might be a combination of a fascia sign, window decals, and an A‑frame on the footpath. It does not have to be fancy yet, but it should be readable, confident, and not look temporary unless you mean it to.

If you can only afford a couple of items at first, prioritise clear new café signage or a simple retail shopfront decal that makes it obvious you are open, you are local, and you are ready for business.

Menus and Price Lists You’re Not Ashamed Of

For hospitality, the menu is your daily script. For shops, a clean price list or category signage does the same job.

For cafés, you’ll usually want:

• A main menu (printed menus for tables or a big menu board on the wall).

• A takeaway menu or small printed list for people grabbing and going.

• Simple signs for specials so you can change them without reprinting everything.

Keep your first run flexible. Prices and dishes will shift in the first few months as you figure out what sells and what doesn’t. You might start with a nicely designed A4 menu in holders, so updating is as simple as reprinting a stack, then move to a permanent board once things settle.

For retail, think about how people navigate the space. Clear section headers, shelf talkers, or small signs explaining offers (“3 for $20”, “Locally made”, “New this week”) help customers feel less lost and more confident.

In‑Hand Prints Your Customers Take Away

Once someone has visited, the next job is getting them to come back or talk about you. This is where small, in‑hand prints shine.

For cafés, good options include:

• Loyalty cards with a simple, clear offer.

• Takeaway menus people can stick on the fridge.

• Branded coasters or cup sleeves if they fit your vibe and budget.

For shops, think:

• Simple business cards at the counter with your name, what you sell, and how to find you again.

• Small thank‑you cards or care cards in bags explaining returns, care instructions, or how to reorder.

• A card or sticker pointing people to your online store or socials.

The key is usefulness. If the piece makes their life easier—remembering you, finding you, knowing how to look after what they bought—it’s worth the print.

Little Branded Touches That Make You Look Put Together

You do not need to brand everything from day one. But a few subtle printed touches can make you feel less like a temporary pop‑up and more like a place people trust.

For cafés, that might be:

• Branded stickers for takeaway cups or bags.

• A simple “Order here / Pick up here” sign so the counter does not feel chaotic.

• Table numbers or reserved signs that look like they belong.

For shops:

• Branded swing tags or labels on your key products.

• Stickers for packaging or tissue wrap.

• A neat “Thank you for supporting local” sign at the till.

These pieces aren’t just decoration. They signal that you care about the details, which gives people more confidence in everything from your food safety to your product quality.

Don’t Print Everything at Once

It is tempting to order the full kit: menus, posters, banners, flyers, merch, the lot. The risk is that you over‑order before you really know how your café or shop will run.

A better approach is to think in stages.

Stage one:

Get the essentials in place so people can find you, order comfortably, and remember you afterwards. That’s signage, menus or price information, and one or two take‑home pieces.

Stage two (a few months in):

Once you’ve settled into your rhythm and know what sells, you can add more permanent signage, better menu boards, printed promotions, and maybe some merch if your regulars are asking for it.

Stage three:

When your brand is feeling more “locked in”, you can upgrade and refine: higher‑end finishes, seasonal campaigns in your windows, custom packaging, the fun stuff.

Printing with this rhythm means less waste and more learning. You can adjust as you go instead of being stuck with boxes of pieces that no longer match how you actually run things.

How to Decide What You Need First

Every café and shop is a bit different, but a simple way to choose your first prints is to walk through your customer’s day.

Ask yourself:

• How do people first notice us? Street, social, word of mouth?

• What do they need to see or know to feel comfortable walking in?

• Where do they get confused, hesitate, or ask the same questions?

• When they leave, how can they find us again or recommend us easily?

If most people discover you walking past, invest more in your front‑of‑house signage and windows. If they come from social media, make sure your in‑store prints match what they’ve seen online so they feel “in the right place”. If your staff answer the same questions ten times a day, that’s a sign something needs to be on a wall or on the menu.

Once you answer those questions honestly, the must‑have print pieces for your opening week become pretty clear. Everything else can wait.

Need Help Working Out Your Print Priorities?

You do not have to arrive with a full brand kit and a finished menu file. That’s what local printers are for.

If you are opening a café or shop and feeling a bit lost in the print options, bring us what you’ve got so far: your name, a draft menu, a few photos of the space, even a rough sketch of your front window. We can help you decide what’s essential for day one, what can wait, and how to print it in a way that leaves room for change.

The goal isn’t to cover every surface in logos. It’s to make your place feel clear, welcoming, and real to the people who walk past, and to give them an easy way to come back for more.