Dealership and Franchise Store Design for Brands
Your dealer network is your brand. For a tile, window, surface or sanitaryware company, the dealership store is where an architect, contractor or homeowner first touches your product, compares it with a competitor's and decides whether to trust your name. If every dealer builds their store differently, the brand you have invested in disappears at the last metre.
Studio MINIM designs dealership and franchise store formats for building-material manufacturers. We have designed 40+ dealership stores for Qutone and its brands, including Dimore Windows and Dimore Surfaces. We work only with brands, never with individual dealers, so every decision we make is made from your side of the table.
Who this service is for
Most showroom designers you will find online pitch to the store owner: one dealer, one shop, one budget. That is a different job. When a manufacturer commissions a dealer store format, the brief is about the network, not one site. You need a store that a dealer in a metro and a dealer in a district town can both build, that your sales team can sell to new dealers, and that still looks like your brand in its fortieth location.
This service is built for:
Marketing and brand heads who need the brand to look the same in every city, on every façade and in every product display.
Sales and channel heads who are signing new dealers and need a ready, credible store package to offer them.
Founders and promoters of growing manufacturers in tiles, ceramics, windows and doors, surfaces, sintered stone, quartz and sanitaryware who are moving from distributor-led selling to a branded dealer network.
Brands relaunching an existing network where stores have drifted apart over years of local improvisation.
If you are an individual dealer looking for a shop interior, we are not the right studio. If you are the brand that dealer represents, we would like to hear from you.
The problems a dealer store format solves
Inconsistent brand experience. Each dealer interprets the brand differently. Logos, colours, display systems and lighting vary from city to city, and the brand looks smaller than it is.
Products that do not sell themselves on a rack. A window profile, a large-format slab or a sintered surface needs context. Without room settings, working mock-ups and honest lighting, customers cannot picture the product in their space.
Slow, unpredictable fit-outs. Without a clear format and drawing set, every new store starts from scratch. Dealers wait, costs drift and openings slip.
Formats that do not scale. A design that works in a large flagship often cannot be adapted to a shop-in-shop or a compact store in a smaller town.
Weak dealer recruitment. A brand that can show a prospective dealer a finished, costed store format is easier to sign with than one that hands over a logo file.
Dealer store formats by size
A network rarely has one site size. We design a family of formats that share one design language, so the brand reads the same at every scale. Typical tiers look like this; the exact areas are set for your network after we study real dealer sites.
Flagship / brand store. Typical use: Key metros, the dealer with the best location; What it must do: Show the full range, host architects, run consultations and events
Standard dealer store. Typical use: Most cities and large towns; What it must do: Show core collections in room settings, support quick selection and quotation
Compact store. Typical use: Smaller towns, narrow frontages; What it must do: Carry the brand façade and best-sellers with a sampling-led display
Shop-in-shop / gallery. Typical use: Multi-brand dealers; What it must do: Give your brand a defined, recognisable zone inside someone else's store
Category-specific zoning
Building materials are not sold like apparel or electronics. Each category has its own way of being judged, and the store has to be planned around it.
Tiles and ceramics
Large-format and slab display. Full-height swivel or slide-out panels so a customer sees a whole tile, not a cut sample.
Room settings. Bathroom, kitchen, living and outdoor vignettes that show the tile laid, grouted and lit, because pattern repeat and joint lines change how a tile reads.
Finish comparison. A neutral, consistently lit table where matt, glossy, satin and textured finishes can be compared side by side.
Selection and quotation zone. Space for the customer, their architect and the dealer's salesperson to sit with samples and a screen.
Windows and doors
Working mock-ups. Openable sliding, casement and tilt-turn units so customers feel the hardware, the seal and the operating weight.
Section and profile display. Cut sections that show chambers, reinforcement and glazing, which is what architects and contractors ask about.
Colour and finish board. Laminates, foils and powder-coat options shown at a realistic scale.
Surfaces, quartz and sintered stone
Slab wall. Full or half slabs displayed vertically with controlled lighting so veining and book-matching can be judged.
Application vignettes. Kitchen counters, island tops, vanity tops and wall cladding showing edge profiles and thicknesses.
Lighting for true colour. High colour-rendering lighting without hot spots, because surfaces are chosen on colour and texture more than almost any other category.
Sanitaryware and bath fittings
Live bathroom settings. Complete bathrooms with the right tile, fittings and lighting so the product is seen as a set.
Working displays. Where plumbing allows, working showers and faucets for flow and finish.
Collection-led arrangement. Grouped by collection and price band so a customer can move from aspiration to budget without leaving the zone.
Most dealers carry more than one category. The format sets the rules for how categories sit together and which one leads at the entrance.
The brand-standard kit: your store manual
The asset that makes a dealer programme work is not the first store. It is the document that lets every later store be built without us redesigning it. Our store manual typically contains:
Format plans for each store tier, with rules for adapting to deep, wide, corner and double-height sites.
Façade and signage standards, including fascia proportions, materials, illumination and placement rules.
Fixture drawings for every display unit, detailed enough for a fabricator to price and build.
Lighting layouts and fixture specifications.
Materials and finishes schedule with approved alternatives where local availability varies.
Graphics and brand-communication guidelines for in-store panels, product labels and price tags.
Indicative bill of quantities (BOQ) so your channel team can give dealers a realistic budget before work starts.
Site adaptation and approval checklist so your team can review a dealer's proposed layout and sign off with confidence.
See Multi-Store Retail Rollout for how the manual is used across many sites.
Our process
1. Brief and network study
We start with your business, not a mood board. Who are your dealers, where are they, what sizes are their sites, what do customers buy and how do they buy it? We review your brand guidelines, existing stores and competitor stores.
2. Site and store audit
We visit or survey representative dealer stores to understand real frontages, depths, ceiling heights and how stock and samples are actually handled.
3. Concept design
The store concept: the big idea, customer journey, display strategy and material palette, presented as plans, 3D views and material boards so marketing, sales and leadership can align early.
4. Format development
The concept is turned into a family of formats by size, with category zoning resolved for each.
5. Prototype store
The first store is built and reviewed. This is where fixture details, lighting levels and costs are tested before the format is locked.
6. Store manual and drawings
We document the approved format as a store manual, fixture drawings and specifications.
7. Site adaptations
Each new dealer site is adapted from the standard format and reviewed against the manual.
8. Review and refinement
After the first set of stores, we review what worked on the ground and update the manual.
What drives the cost
We do not publish fixed rates, because a dealer programme is priced on its scope. The main factors are:
Number of formats. One standard format costs less to develop than a family of four.
Number of categories. A store showing tiles, sanitaryware and surfaces needs more fixture design than a single-category store.
Depth of the store manual. A concept-level guide is quicker than a full drawing set with BOQs and vendor specifications.
Prototype involvement. Supervising the first build adds time but saves cost across the network.
Number of site adaptations and how varied the dealer sites are.
Fixture approach. Custom fixtures, modular systems or a mix, and whether they are made centrally or by local vendors.
Fit-out costs are borne by the brand or dealer according to your commercial model; the manual's BOQ helps you plan them accurately.
Typical timeline
Timelines depend on scope and approval speed. As a general guide for projects of this kind, not a commitment:
Brief, audit and concept: a few weeks.
Format development and prototype drawings: a few weeks more.
Prototype build: depends on site and contractor.
Store manual after prototype review: a few weeks.
Proof: Qutone, Dimore Windows and Dimore Surfaces
Studio MINIM's largest body of work is the dealership network for Qutone and its subsidiaries: 40+ dealership stores across Qutone, Dimore Windows and Dimore Surfaces. That is three product categories (tiles, windows and surfaces) designed within one brand family, which is exactly the problem most building-material groups face.
Why Studio MINIM
Proven at network scale. 40+ dealership stores for one brand group is a working system, not a single portfolio piece.
Specialists in building materials. We understand how tiles, windows and surfaces are sold, displayed and specified, and how architects and contractors evaluate them.
Brand-side only. We work exclusively with brands, so our designs protect the brand standard across every dealer.
Architecture and interiors under one roof. Founded in 2018 by Ar. Shruti Desai (CEPT), we handle façades, interiors, fixtures and lighting together.
Same language at the stall and the store. We also design exhibition stalls for building-material brands, so your trade-show presence and your dealer stores can share one identity.
Based in Gujarat, working across India. We work from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat, and our formats are documented to be built in other cities.
Related services
Multi-Store Retail Rollout: turn your format into a manual and roll it out.
Showroom & Experience Centre Design: flagship spaces that anchor the network.
Exhibition & Stall Design: trade-show presence that matches your stores.
Office & Corporate Interior Design and Commercial Space Design.
Frequently asked questions
Do you work directly with dealers? No. Studio MINIM works only with brands. We design the format for the brand, and the brand rolls it out through its dealer network.
What types of brands do you design dealership stores for? Building-material manufacturers with a dealer-led model: tiles and ceramics, windows and doors, surfaces, quartz and sintered stone, sanitaryware and similar categories.
How many dealership stores have you designed? We have designed 40+ dealership stores for Qutone and its brands, including Dimore Windows and Dimore Surfaces.
Can one design work for very different site sizes? Yes. We design a family of formats, from flagship to shop-in-shop, with rules for adapting to different frontages and depths, so the brand stays consistent wherever it appears.
What is a store manual or brand-standard kit? A complete set of standards covering format plans, façade and signage, fixture drawings, lighting, materials, graphics and an indicative BOQ, so new stores can be built consistently and quickly.
Can a dealer store show more than one product category? Yes. The format sets rules for how tiles, windows, surfaces or sanitaryware share space and which category leads at the entrance.
How much does dealership store design cost? It depends on the number of formats, categories, the depth of the store manual, prototype involvement and the number of site adaptations. We quote after a short brief.
How long does it take to develop a dealer store format? It depends on scope and approvals. Concept and format development typically take a few weeks each, followed by a prototype build and the store manual.
Do you work outside Gujarat? We are based in Ahmedabad and also work in Vadodara and Surat. Our formats are documented so they can be built in other cities.
How do we start? Share a short brief through our contact page with your brand, product categories, current number of dealers and expansion plans. We will set up a first call.
Planning a dealer network?
Tell us about your brand and your expansion plans. We'll show you how a consistent dealership format can make every store sell like your best one.