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Industry Practice · Commerce & hospitality

Retail Shops & Showrooms

Insurance for standalone retail shops, brand showrooms, specialty stores and small retail chains, stock, premises, glass and customer liability.

Burglary & theftPlate glass damageCustomer liability
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The sector

Stock and glass face the street; cash and employees face the back office.

Retail operations carry concentrated stock value, plate-glass exposure on shop fronts, burglary and theft risk on closed hours, and customer-injury liability during opening hours. Larger retailers add fidelity exposure as cash and stock pass through more hands. The shopkeeper's package addresses most of this in one document, with extensions where needed.

Risk profile

Where the exposure lives.

Retail concentrates stock, fire, theft and public-liability risk right at the counter. These four lead.

01
Burglary & theft
Closed-hours forced entry, especially for jewellery, electronics and high-value goods retailers.
02
Plate glass damage
Shop-front glass breakage from accidents, vandalism or storm, direct replacement cost.
03
Customer liability
Slip-and-fall and product-handling injuries during opening hours.
04
Employee dishonesty
Cash and stock pilferage by employees, particularly in stores with multiple shift workers.
Recommended cover

The programme we typically place.

Each cover below is a link to the policy page. The combination, the limits and the wording are what we negotiate on your behalf.

01
Shopkeeper Policy
Bundled retail package covering stock, premises, glass, money and basic liability.
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02
Public Liability
Standalone PL where higher limits are required than the shopkeeper package provides.
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03
Fidelity Insurance
Employee dishonesty cover for shops with multiple cash-handling employees.
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04
Commercial Vehicle
Fleet cover for delivery and home-service vehicles.
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Claim reality

What a claim tends to look like here.

The classic claim is a fire, burglary or water-ingress event that damages stock and fittings and stops trading, sometimes with a public-liability claim from a customer on the floor. Cash and glass are frequent smaller losses.

Questions

Questions we get in this sector.

A shopkeeper's policy bundles fire with burglary, cash, plate glass, public liability and often personal accident, covering the full range a retail business faces. It is usually better value than a standalone fire policy.
Stock in a locked premises is covered; window-display stock while unattended may carry a sub-limit or condition. We confirm the display position and extend it where needed.
For many shops it is, provided the sections that matter are switched on and adequately valued. The usual failures are a token amount for plate glass, a burglary section far below the stock at risk, and no cover for cash on the premises.
Generally not. Burglary cover normally requires forcible and violent entry, so shoplifting and pilferage fall outside it. Losses from within the shop are a different matter again and belong under a fidelity section.
Only if the tenant has taken responsibility for them under the lease and has insured them. Improvements made by the tenant are frequently insured by neither party, which surfaces after a fire.

Need a sector-specific risk review?

Speak with an advisor who has arranged cover for retail shops before.

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