Wide frontage, glass shopfronts, double or triple frontage: worth it?

Most ground-floor shoplots in our hubs have about 20 to 22 ft of frontage. That is enough for most single-unit formats: a cafe, a pharmacy, a clinic or a bubble tea counter. 40 ft of frontage normally means two lots joined or a wide corner unit, and 60 ft or more usually means three lots side by side or the end of a block. Double frontage comes from corner and end lots; triple frontage comes from blocks with roads on three sides, and those units are rare. A full glass front helps display and night visibility, but replacing a shopfront needs the landlord's written consent and, for anything beyond cosmetic work, council approval.

Signage, ceiling height and joining units for chain brands are covered in our chain brand unit checklist. This article is about width, glass and the number of faces.

Doubling the frontage roughly doubles the rent, because you are usually renting two units. The question is whether the second window brings in enough extra customers. For impulse trades it often does; for booked trades such as a clinic or salon it rarely does.

Formats that sell large items, run long shelving aisles or use the shopfront as their main advert: supermarket and grocery formats, home and furniture stores, large pharmacies with retail floors, car and motorcycle showrooms, and flagship F&B with several dining zones. On a shoplot row, 60 ft almost always means three adjoining lots joined, or a corner block end that is wider by design. Our guide to finding 5,000 to 10,000 sq ft of street retail covers how those are assembled.

Work it out from the customer, not the floor plan:

• Walk-in impulse retail (drinks, convenience, pharmacy): one 20 to 22 ft lot works if the whole width is glass and not lost to a staircase door.
• Browsing retail (fashion, gifts, homeware): 20 ft works for a small range; 40 ft lets you show two windows and separate entry from the till.
• Large-format retail: 40 ft minimum, 60 ft if the window is the main advert.

Measure clear frontage between columns and the upper-floor door, as explained in our shop sizes and usable area guide.

• Display. Passers-by see the products, the queue and the seating before they decide.
• Daylight. A deep shoplot gets light further in, which helps cafes and retail.
• Night visibility. A lit glass front works as a sign after dark, which matters on food streets.
• Trust. Clinics, pharmacies and salons look open and clean from outside.

The trade-off is heat. A west-facing glass front takes the afternoon sun, which raises air-conditioning load and can drive customers away from window seats. Read east or west facing shop before choosing glass on a west-facing row, and budget for solar film or blinds.

Usually yes, with three layers of permission:

1. Landlord consent in writing, with drawings, before you sign the tenancy.
2. Council approval. A new glass front, a moved shutter or any change to the structure is building work that needs approved plans from the council (DBKL, MBPJ or MBSJ). Cosmetic changes are lighter, but ask before you order.
3. Management body where the building is strata, because by-laws may control the facade.

Agree in the tenancy whether you must restore the original front when you leave; see reinstatement. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm with your lawyer and the council.

Newer commercial centres are more often built with full-height glass fronts, while older rows tend to have a roller shutter with a smaller glazed section. Search adverts and street photos in newer hubs, and look for units the previous tenant has already glazed.

Double frontage units are corner lots and end lots: the shopfront faces the main road and the side faces a cross street. Every block has two, so they exist in every hub, but the good ones rarely reach the portals. Browse corner lots and read is the corner premium worth it. For scale, one SS15 corner ground floor of 1,800 sq ft asked RM 24,000 a month (about RM 13.33 psf) while an intermediate unit asked RM 6,500 (about RM 3.69 psf), with different sizes and fit-out (PropertyGuru listings).

Triple frontage needs a block with roads on three sides, usually a short "island" block, where the end unit faces the front road, the side road and a rear road rather than a back lane. To find one:

• Scan hubs on satellite maps for short blocks surrounded by roads
• Note the two end units of each island block
• Find the owners through the title search or the neighbours
• Approach before the current tenancy ends, not after

Most of these are let or sold through contacts. That is why prime shops rarely hang a banner.