How to open a store from scratch: step-by-step instructions

How to open a store from scratch

It is possible to open a small retail store from scratch in 4–8 weeks if you determine the product range, budget, premises, tax system and inventory management process in advance. For a store of about 30–50 m², a practical pre-opening budget can often be estimated at 280,000–1,200,000 UAH: the first batch of goods, renovation and rent depend most on the chosen niche. This is a working model for planning; it is not an average cost for Ukraine.

Is it worth opening a store from scratch

Opening a store makes sense if you can explain who your customer is, what exactly they will buy from you and why the chosen location will generate enough sales. Before signing a lease, check pedestrian or vehicle traffic, competitors within a 5–15-minute radius, prices, product range, reviews and peak traffic hours.

There is no single typical store margin. It differs for food, clothing, cosmetics, building materials, electronics and other categories. To make a decision, calculate gross profit for each product group and then subtract rent, salaries, taxes, acquiring fees, write-offs, logistics and other fixed expenses.

Before opening, prepare three sales scenarios: weak, baseline and strong. If the store can withstand a weak scenario for at least several months thanks to a financial reserve, the risk of a cash-flow gap is lower. Assess seasonality separately for your category: winter footwear, school supplies, gardening equipment and gifts have different demand cycles.

How much money is needed to get started

How much money is needed to get started?

For a small store without expensive specialized equipment, you should calculate the full opening budget, including the first purchase of goods and a reserve for the first few months. Below is a working model for premises of approximately 30–50 m². The actual amount depends on the city, condition of the premises, product category and supplier terms.

Expense	Estimate	What it depends on
Sole Proprietorship registration	0 UAH online	State registration through Diia is free of charge
First month’s rent and security deposit	30,000–100,000 UAH	City, floor area, customer traffic, lease terms
Renovation, lighting, electrical work	40,000–180,000 UAH	Current condition of the premises and store format
Shelving, counters, furniture	30,000–150,000 UAH	Product range, materials, new or used furniture
POS and inventory management equipment	20,000–80,000 UAH	Number of workstations, label printing, pECR, payment terminal
Signage and interior design	10,000–40,000 UAH	Size, construction, local requirements
First batch of goods	100,000–500,000 UAH	Category, number of SKUs, stock depth
Reserve for the first few months	50,000–150,000 UAH	Rent, salaries, taxes, repeat purchases
Total	280,000–1,200,000 UAH	Excluding special licences and expensive specialized equipment

Do not invest all available capital in goods. Working capital is needed to reorder items that begin selling faster than expected, as well as to cover rent, salaries and taxes until revenue becomes stable.

Step 1. Business registration

For one small store, a Sole Proprietorship is most commonly considered, while a business with several founders or a more complex ownership structure may consider an LLC. The legal form should be chosen before signing significant agreements with suppliers and hiring employees.

Sole Proprietorship or LLC

A Sole Proprietorship is easier to register and administer, making this format practical for a store with one owner. An LLC is worth considering if there are several co-owners, ownership shares need to be allocated, an investor is involved, a separate corporate structure is required, or counterparties have corresponding requirements.

A Sole Proprietorship can be registered through the Diia portal. Completing the application takes about 10 minutes, automatic registration is free of charge, and the entry in the Unified State Register may appear within two business days.

Which single tax group to choose

Group 1 is intended for a much narrower range of scenarios, including retail sales from market trading places, and does not allow hired employees. It is generally not considered for a regular stationary store outside a market. Check current rates and restrictions on the State Tax Service website.

Group 2 is suitable for many small retail stores if the type of activity is permitted under the simplified taxation system, annual income does not exceed 7,211,598 UAH and no more than 10 employees work at the same time. The maximum single tax is 1,729.40 UAH per month, the military levy is 864.70 UAH per month, and the minimum Unified Social Contribution is 1,902.34 UAH per month unless a statutory exemption applies.

Group 3 provides a higher income limit of 10,091,049 UAH and has no restriction on the number of employees. The single tax rate is 5% of income without VAT or 3% with VAT; the military levy is 1% of income, and the minimum Unified Social Contribution is 1,902.34 UAH per month unless an exemption applies.

Which KVED codes are required

KVED codes are selected according to the actual product range and sales channels. Code 47.19 is often used for non-specialized stores selling mainly non-food products, while 47.11 is used for non-specialized stores selling mainly food, beverages and tobacco. Specialized stores have separate codes within group 47.7, while retail sales via the Internet may require code 47.91.

Do not add a code merely because its name sounds similar. Compare it with the actual goods you sell and your future contracts. From January 1, 2027, the NACE 2.1-UA classification will be introduced, so check the current classifier before registering after this date.

How to submit documents

For online Sole Proprietorship registration, prepare a QES, tax identification number, list of KVED codes and determine your taxation system in advance. In the application through Diia, you can immediately choose the general or simplified taxation system; the information is then forwarded to the tax authorities.

After registration, open a business bank account, arrange acquiring services if you plan to accept cards, and verify your entry in the register of single tax payers. For Group 3, the tax authority enters the business into the single tax payer register within two business days after the application is submitted.

Step 2. Permits and licences

A regular store selling clothing, stationery, household goods or other non-food products generally does not require a separate retail licence. Special requirements arise for specific products: alcohol, tobacco, liquids for electronic cigarettes, medicines, certain food-related processes and other regulated categories.

If you sell alcohol, the quarterly licence fee for an urban retail outlet is 3,242.63 UAH for each ECR or pECR through which alcohol is sold. For retail outlets in villages and settlements that meet the statutory conditions, the amount is lower — 172.94 UAH per quarter. For tobacco products and liquids for electronic cigarettes, the quarterly fee is 756.61 UAH in cities and 108.09 UAH for qualifying rural and settlement outlets.

Retail licences for these excisable goods are indefinite, with fees paid quarterly. A decision to grant or refuse a licence must be made no later than 10 business days after the application is received. Check current fees and application forms on the State Tax Service website before making a payment.

For a food store, check the requirements for registration of the market operator’s facility. If the activity does not require an operating permit, an application for state registration of the facility must be submitted to the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection no later than 10 calendar days before operations begin; the service is free of charge. The procedure can be checked on the Diia portal. Activities subject to an operating permit follow a separate procedure.

Keep invoices and documents confirming the origin of goods received from suppliers. For categories where legislation requires declarations, certificates or other conformity documents, obtain them before placing the goods on sale.

Step 3. Premises

Choose premises after assessing customer traffic, technical conditions and the economics of the location. High traffic alone does not guarantee sales: the people in the location must match your target audience.

Before signing the agreement, verify the landlord’s right to lease the premises, the address and floor area, electrical capacity, heating, water supply where required, Internet access, the possibility of installing signage, access for receiving goods, building opening hours and early termination conditions. The agreement should separately specify rent, security deposit, indexation, utility payments, repairs and the procedure for returning the premises.

Plan the sales floor, checkout area, goods receiving area, stock storage and staff area. A store with many small SKUs needs more storage space. For bulky goods, access roads, doorway dimensions and convenient loading and unloading are important.

After leasing or opening the premises, submit Form 20-OPP to the State Tax Service within 10 business days. It can be submitted through the Electronic Cabinet; the form specifies the type of facility, address, right of use and status. The current procedure is explained by the State Tax Service on the Form 20-OPP page.

For the checkout, router and other equipment, plan backup power in case of outages. If store operations depend on the Internet, prepare a backup connection from another provider.

Step 4. Checkout and fiscalization

If a Sole Proprietorship in Group 2, 3 or 4, or an entrepreneur under the general taxation system, accepts cash or card payments, settlement transactions must be processed through an ECR or pECR. A customer transfer made directly to the current account using IBAN details does not require an ECR or pECR for that particular bank transaction.

An ECR is a separate fiscal device. A pECR operates as a software fiscal registrar on a computer, smartphone or another compatible device. For a small store, a pECR often reduces the amount of separate equipment required, but it still requires proper registration of the business location, cashiers, QES and compliance with cash register procedures.

Before launching a pECR, make sure the store has been reported through Form 20-OPP. Then register the pECR with the State Tax Service, add cashiers and test opening a shift, making a sale, processing a return, service cash-in and closing the shift using a test product.

In Torgsoft, sales and returns can be processed through a connected pECR. The practical benefit of this setup is that the inventory document and fiscal transaction are completed within the same workflow, so the cashier does not have to enter the receipt again in a separate system.

For selling goods without properly using an ECR or pECR and failing to issue a settlement document, the standard financial penalty is 100% of the value of the goods for the first violation and 150% of the value for each subsequent violation. Before opening, check the current rules on the State Tax Service website.

Step 5. Retail outlet equipment

A basic workstation consists of a checkout computer, barcode scanner, fiscalization solution and payment acceptance method. Add other equipment for specific operations so that you do not spend money on devices that will not be used.

LEABON LB-W7 J4125 15.6'' 8/128 touchscreen all-in-one can serve as a checkout computer when a compact stationary workstation is required;
Mobitehnika MT-3000 1D scanner reads product barcodes during sales, goods receiving and product search;
Xprinter XP-58IIL receipt printer is needed if the store prints paper non-fiscal or supporting receipts from the software; for a pECR, the possibility of paper printing depends on your workflow;
ASAP POS 410E cash drawer is needed if the checkout accepts cash and the money must be stored in a separate cash drawer;
Xprinter XP-235B label printer is needed for a store that prints its own price labels and product barcodes;
LECOM T80 2D ANDROID Wi-Fi data collection terminal is useful for a large product range when goods receiving and inventory counts are more convenient to perform on a mobile device.

For card payments, order a bank payment terminal or another acquiring solution from your bank. Add scales for goods sold by weight, anti-theft equipment for expensive compact items where appropriate, and a backup power supply for stores that frequently experience power outages.

If the store will use Torgsoft, check the compatibility of the specific scanner, printer, scales or other device with the required workflow before purchasing it. Devices in the same equipment category do not necessarily use the same connection method.

Step 6. Inventory and cash management

Inventory management should be set up before the first sale so that the first purchase is immediately entered into the system with the correct quantity and purchase price. Create a category tree, units of measurement, manufacturers or brands, SKUs, barcodes and characteristics that are actually required for your business niche.

Record every delivery as a goods receipt with the supplier, document number, quantity and purchase price. After a sale, the item should be deducted from stock; after a customer return, it should be returned to the recorded stock balance; after a write-off, the stock balance should decrease with the reason specified. An inventory count compares the actual quantity with the recorded quantity and shows discrepancies.

Torgsoft provides goods receipt, sale, return, write-off and inventory count documents for these operations. The software also maintains cash and financial documents, allowing the owner to view product movement and cash movement separately.

Check revenue and cash, card payments, returns and cancellations every day. Review stock balances and products that need to be reordered every week. Once sales history has accumulated, analyse inventory turnover: goods that remain on the shelf for months tie up money even though they are formally an asset in stock.

Step 7. Suppliers and product range

A supplier should be assessed based on the full economics of the delivery: purchase price, minimum order quantity, delivery costs, deferred payment terms, defective goods returns, delivery lead times and product documentation. A low unit price may lose its advantage if the supplier requires excessive stock levels or takes too long to replenish fast-moving items.

Find at least two alternative sources for your main product categories. Before placing the first order, request a price list, payment terms, minimum order amount, shipping schedule, defective goods exchange policy and a list of documents supplied with the goods.

Make the first purchases in test batches where demand has not yet been confirmed. It is better to have sufficient assortment breadth with moderate quantities of each item and increase stock depth after actual sales begin. For basic products with predictable demand, you can keep more stock while taking the next delivery lead time into account.

After the first few weeks of operation, divide products into those that sell consistently, slowly and occasionally. Form repeat orders based on the actual stock balance, average sales and delivery lead time. This helps keep more money invested in products that actually move.

Step 8. Staff

A small store can start operating with the owner at the checkout or with one salesperson. For long opening hours and operation without days off, at least two employees or cover from the owner are required; otherwise, a holiday or sick leave immediately creates scheduling problems.

Before an employee starts work, sign an employment agreement, issue the relevant order and submit a notification to the State Tax Service. The employee provides a passport, tax identification number and other documents if required for the position. The employer withholds 18% personal income tax and a 5% military levy from the accrued salary and generally pays a 22% Unified Social Contribution.

When planning payroll expenses, use the market salary in your city as a reference. The statutory minimum only sets the lower limit. Add the employer’s Unified Social Contribution, paid leave, replacement staff and training costs to the accrued salary.

In Torgsoft, separate users and access rights can be configured for employees, while actions can be checked through the user activity log and document change log. A store should at least separate the owner’s and salesperson’s permissions: leave the salesperson only the operations needed during a shift and restrict access to critical settings and financial data.

Before the first working day, prepare short instructions explaining how to receive goods, make a sale, process a return, cancel a transaction, perform cash collection, what to do if the Internet is unavailable, who approves discounts and who should be notified about discrepancies at the checkout or in stock.

Step 9. Launch and first sales

One week before opening, the store should complete a full test workflow from receiving goods to closing the checkout shift. Do not leave fiscalization, acquiring setup or the loading of opening stock balances until the evening before opening.

Upload or enter the initial product range, purchase and retail prices, and barcodes.
Print labels and verify that the scanner finds the correct product.
Process a test sale with cash and by card.
Check the fiscal receipt, payment method, product name, amount and details.
Process a test return and make sure the product is returned to stock.
Reconcile cash, card payments and the checkout total.
Carry out a short inventory count on several shelves.
Check backup power and backup Internet access.

Before opening, install signage in accordance with local rules, add the store to Google Maps, and specify up-to-date opening hours and contact details. If you plan to sell online, first ensure consistent prices and stock balances across sales channels and only then launch advertising.

During the first two weeks, keep a daily log of customer requests: what they looked for, what was unavailable, which prices they considered high and which products they requested together. This provides a basis for the first product range adjustments without making large repeat purchases based on guesswork.

Common mistakes when starting

The biggest losses at the beginning often result from decisions that are difficult to reverse quickly: an unsuitable lease, excessive stock and the absence of systematic inventory management.

Renting premises without checking the economics. Consequence: high rent consumes gross profit even when sales are reasonable.
Buying too much stock. Consequence: money remains tied up in slow-moving items, while there is not enough working capital to reorder fast-moving products.
Choosing KVED codes and a tax group formally. Consequence: registration details have to be changed urgently or the tax regime has to be corrected after launch.
Postponing ECR or pECR setup until opening. Consequence: the cashier does not practise sales, returns and shift closing, increasing the risk of violations during the first days.
Starting sales before all goods have been recorded as received. Consequence: actual stock immediately differs from the recorded balance, and the first inventory count reveals discrepancies of unknown origin.
Giving all employees the same access rights. Consequence: it becomes difficult to identify who changed a price, processed a return or write-off, or edited a document.
Failing to keep a financial reserve. Consequence: a weak first month or delayed delivery forces the business to reduce its product range or postpone mandatory payments.

Opening checklist

The sequence below helps you complete the opening process without missing critical steps and maintain the correct order of execution.

Define the niche, customer, average transaction value and main product groups.
Calculate gross margin, fixed expenses and the break-even point under three sales scenarios.
Set the maximum budget and a reserve that will not be spent on the first purchase.
Evaluate 3–5 potential locations based on traffic, competitors and rent.
Choose a Sole Proprietorship or LLC, taxation system and KVED codes.
Register the business and open a business bank account.
Sign the lease agreement after checking the technical conditions and documents.
Submit Form 20-OPP within the required period.
Check whether licences, food facility registration or other permits are required.
Order furniture, lighting, signage and checkout equipment.
Sign agreements with suppliers and obtain product documentation.
Configure the inventory management software, product categories, prices, barcodes and access rights.
Record the entire first batch of goods as received before placing them on sale.
Register an ECR or pECR if required.
Connect acquiring services and test card payments.
Complete employee formalities before allowing staff to start work.
Train staff in sales, returns, discounts, checkout operations and inventory counts.
Perform a test sale, return, cash collection and shift closing.
Count the actual stock before the first working day.
Open the store and analyse sales, customer requests and stock balances daily during the first few weeks.

Questions and answers

? How much money is needed to open a small store

For a store of approximately 30–50 m² without expensive specialized equipment, a practical budget model is about 280,000–1,200,000 UAH. The first batch of goods, renovation, rent and a cash reserve for the first few months have the greatest impact on the total.

? How long does it take to open a store

If the premises do not require major renovation, the basic timeframe is approximately 4–8 weeks. Sole Proprietorship registration takes little time; most of the schedule is usually taken up by finding premises, renovation, equipment, delivery of goods, licences and checkout preparation.

? Which Sole Proprietorship tax group is suitable for a store

For a small retail store, Group 2 is often considered if the income, number of employees and type of activity meet its requirements. Group 3 is considered for higher income, a different tax structure or when more employees are required.

? Can you operate without an ECR or pECR

This depends on the payment method and tax status. For Sole Proprietorships in Groups 2–4 that accept cash or card payments, an ECR or pECR is required. Payments made directly to the current account using IBAN details are not fiscalized as settlement transactions.

? Does a regular store need a licence

For most non-food products, a separate retail licence is not required. A special licence or permit is required for certain categories and activities, so the final check should be made after the exact product range has been determined.

? Can you start without hiring a salesperson

Yes, the owner can work in the store personally. This reduces payroll expenses at the beginning and allows the owner to see customer requests first-hand, but the schedule should remain realistic and allow enough time to receive goods, maintain records and rest.

? What should you buy first: goods or equipment

First define the sales and inventory management process, then order compatible equipment and the first batch of goods. It is better to test the software, checkout, scanner, label printing and pECR before mass labelling the goods so that you do not have to redo labels and product directories before opening.

? Where to start with automation

Before purchasing equipment, go through your own workflow in the inventory management software: create several products, record a goods receipt, print a label, process a sale and return, and carry out a short inventory count. This will show you which product characteristics, checkout equipment and employee access rights your store actually needs. The Torgsoft demo version works for 30 days. Equipment for retail outlets is available in the retail equipment section.

Amounts, rates, limits and requirements are stated as of August 2026. Tax legislation changes: before registering or submitting documents, check the current values on the State Tax Service website.