Frozen editionQ3 2026cut 30 September 2026Live chapter →

Retail & Shopping

304 organisations are counted with Retail & Shopping as their primary sector — 8% of everything with a sector on record, and the 5th largest of 16. A further 48 organisations work in it alongside another sector.

The count

304

organisations counted with Retail & Shopping as their primary sector, across the Bailiwick’s four inhabited islands.

352Work in it at all
18Sub-sectors on record
10Parishes represented
202With capabilities mapped
14Capability domains

How complete is this sector’s count?

304 counted & publishedmeasured coverage 82%

An estimated 82% of this sector’s organisations are counted — mid-table on measured coverage: 7th of the 16 sectors.

Every count in this chapter is a floor, never a total.

How coverage is measured →

Headline figures

#headlines ⧉

The figures you can quote

The figures in this chapter that clear the citable bar — coverage high enough, count large enough, denominator named. A figure that does not clear it appears further down as a chart, badged, or not at all.

The largest kind of Retail & Shopping organisation on record53This attribute is on record for 304 of 304 organisations (100%)Specialist Retail — 17% of the sector, ahead of Clothing & Fashion (43) and Gifts & Cards (35).
Retail & Shopping organisations with a website of their own62%Counted over all 304 active organisations188 of 304, against 67% island-wide — 5 points below the island rate, the 3rd-lowest own-site rate of the 15 sectors where it can be counted. Verified from published evidence; businesses without a web presence are under-represented.
Organisations working in Retail & Shopping at all352Counted over all 3,616 active organisations48 more than the 304 that call it their main line — counted in every sector they work in, so sector totals add up to more than the island does.
Organisations with what they do resolved to the capability graph66%A capability on record for 202 of 304 organisations (66%)202 of 304, against 71% island-wide, the 3rd-lowest capability coverage of the 13 sectors where it can be counted; a median of 3 capabilities each against 3 island-wide. Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

What stands out

#signature ⧉

Concentrated in St Sampson

St Peter Port holds the most in raw terms — 122 of the 259 whose parish is on record, a concentration of 1.10 against that parish's share of everything counted. The sharpest concentration among the parishes large enough to name is St Sampson at 1.55. A quotient of one means the same mix as the island, which is the commonest reading and should look like nothing. Smaller parishes are drawn but not named: below 30 organisations a quotient moves on a single new record.

Concentration, not headcount#signature-parish-lq ⧉

Where Retail & Shopping is over- and under-represented

A parish on record for 259 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (85%)

Share vs the islandunder ½×below island share≈ island shareup to 2×over 2×
St Peter P…1.10St Sampson1.55Vale0.81Castel0.78St Saviour0.73St Pierre du Bois0.78Torteval—Forest0.58St Martin0.70St Andrew0.67

Tap a parish for its full name and count — at this size some shapes are too small to carry a label. Every parish is in the table.

A location quotient: this sector's share of a parish against its share of the island. A quotient of one means "the same mix as the island", and should look like nothing. Hatched parishes hold too few of this sector to compare at all, and parishes holding fewer than 30 are drawn and tabled but never named in a sentence — a quotient over a handful moves on one new record.

12 Guernsey organisations in this sector have no parish on record — a real gap, not an exclusion, and the map fills in as verification proceeds; a further 33 organisations trade on Alderney, Sark or Herm and are counted in the island split rather than on this map.

Sub-sectors

#composition ⧉

Specialist Retail leads, on 53 organisations

Every organisation is counted once, in its primary sub-sector. Separately, 48 organisations outside this count work in Retail & Shopping alongside another sector — they are not in the bars below.

Primary sub-sector#composition-l2 ⧉

Retail & Shopping by sub-sector

Counted over all 304 active Retail & Shopping organisations

Specialist Retail53 17%Clothing & Fashion43 14%Gifts & Cards35 12%Hardware & DIY26 9%Jewellery & Watches18 6%Home & Garden Retail17 6%Convenience Stores16 5%Pharmacies15 5%Books & Stationery13 4%Health & Beauty13 4%Electronics & Appliances11 4%Florists11 4%Supermarkets & Grocers9 3%Charity Shops8 3%Pet Shops & Supplies5 2%Sports & Outdoor5 2%Toys & Games5 2%Direct at sector level1 0%

Counts each organisation's primary sub-sector, so the bars sum to the sector, and each is the roll call the directory lists under that name.

1 organisation is classified straight at sector level with no sub-sector — a real cohort, kept visible rather than folded into the largest bar. 48 further organisations work in Retail & Shopping alongside another sector and are not in these bars: each is counted in the sub-sector of the sector it calls its main line. "Works in", never "is in".

St Peter Port holds 122 Retail & Shopping organisations

1 in 2 of the 259 whose parish is on record. Off Guernsey: 24 on Alderney, 8 on Sark and 1 on Herm.

Retail & Shopping organisations by parish

A parish on record for 259 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (85%)

Organisations0122
St Peter P…122St Sampson53Vale27Castel17St Saviour6St Pierre du Bois6Torteval1Forest5St Martin16St Andrew6

Tap a parish for its full name and count — at this size some shapes are too small to carry a label. Every parish is in the table.

Guernsey parishes only; Alderney, Sark and Herm are counted in the island split above.

12 Guernsey organisations in this sector have no parish on record — a real gap, not an exclusion, and the map fills in as verification proceeds; a further 33 organisations trade on Alderney, Sark or Herm and are counted in the island split rather than on this map.

Founding years

#age ⧉

How old it is

Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once.

Founding era#age-eras ⧉

Retail & Shopping organisations by founding era

A founding year on record for 138 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (45%)

On record for 45% — indicative
0102030pre-1800281950–792000–092020s

Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once.

Half of those with a founding year began after 2000. The island's median is 2006.

Founded in the 2020s24A founding year on record for 138 of 304 organisations (45%)Of those that publish a founding year at all.On record for 45% — indicative

Capabilities

#capabilities ⧉

The typical mapped organisation holds 3 capabilities, against 3 island-wide

66% of the sector have at least one service resolved to the graph, across 14 domains, against 71% island-wide, the 3rd-lowest capability coverage of the 13 sectors where it can be counted. Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

Capability groups on record

A capability on record for 202 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (66%)

Gifts, cards & crafts66 33%Homeware & furnishings52 26%Specialist & second-hand shops42 21%Clothing & footwear39 19%Trade counters & merchants26 13%Jewellery & watches20 10%Everyday & convenience18 9%Carpentry & joinery13 6%Tiling & flooring10 5%Electrical9 4%Painting & decorating4 2%Specialist trades3 1%Plastering & rendering2 1%Plumbing, heating & ventilation2 1%Windows, doors & glazing1 0%

Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

128 of the 202 with a capability on record span two or more of these groups (63%). Two capabilities inside one group are one trade, not two, which is why this counts groups rather than nodes.

The busiest nodes#capability-nodes ⧉

What the most organisations are on record for

A capability on record for 202 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (66%)

Gifts & giftware50 25%Homeware & home décor32 16%Clothing & fashion31 15%Greeting cards & stationery21 10%Jewellery & watches19 9%Souvenirs & Guernsey gifts17 8%Plumbers' & electrical merchants16 8%Hardware & DIY14 7%Builders' & timber merchants13 6%Bespoke jewellery & goldsmithing12 6%Convenience stores & corner sho…12 6%Furniture shops & showrooms12 6%

An organisation on two of these is counted on both, so the rows add up to more than the number of organisations.

What goes with what#capability-pairs ⧉

Capabilities held together

A capability on record for 202 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (66%)

Organisations023
Gifts & gift…Homeware & h…Clothing & f…Greeting car…Jewellery &…Souvenirs &…Plumbers' &…Hardware & D…Builders' &…Bespoke jewe…Convenience…Furniture sh…Gifts & gift…Homeware & h…Clothing & f…Greeting car…Jewellery &…Souvenirs &…Plumbers' &…Hardware & D…Builders' &…Bespoke jewe…Convenience…Furniture sh…

Each cell counts the organisations on record for both capabilities; the diagonal is blank on purpose. Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

How central is it?#capability-roles ⧉

Is this what they do, or one of many things they do?

A positioning note on record for 178 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (59%)

On record for 59% — indicative
This is what they do121 68%Core to the business89 50%One of many services72 40%A sideline21 12%

The roles overlap: one business can be “this is what they do” for one capability and “a sideline” for another, so these rows add up past the number of businesses.

Online presence

#digital ⧉

62% of Retail & Shopping organisations have a website of their own

Against 67% island-wide — 5 points below the island rate, the 3rd-lowest own-site rate of the 15 sectors where it can be counted. The gap is the robust part: the sector’s own rate is measured over the organisations we have found, and the ones still missing are disproportionately the web-invisible.

Sector against island#digital-vs-island ⧉

Digital presence, this sector and the island

Counted over all 304 active Retail & Shopping organisations

Retail & ShoppingThe island
0%50%100%Has a website62%67%Website on a .gg domain16%27%Links a social account of any kind50%50%Links a Facebook page47%48%Links an Instagram account23%25%

Each track carries both values at its ends; the gap between retail & shopping and the island is in the table view. Measured in share of organisations.

Verified from published evidence; businesses without a web presence are under-represented.

Each row is a share of all organisations counted, in the sector and island-wide — not a share of those with a website, so the rows are comparable with one another.

Retail & Shopping organisations with a website of their own188Counted over all 304 active Retail & Shopping organisationsA site of their own on record — not a directory listing or a social page.
Of those websites, the share on a .gg domain1 in 4Counted over all 304 active Retail & Shopping organisations48 of 188, against 40% of the 2,432 island-wide. Counts the .gg family — .gg, .co.gg, .org.gg and the rest.

Legal form and ownership

#form ⧉

Legal form, ownership and size — as far as they are published

These are published far less often than a phone number. Each module below states its own coverage, and renders the gap rather than a confident number over a silent base.

Opening hours

#hours ⧉

The sector’s working week

Seven days, twenty-four hours#hours-clock ⧉

Retail & Shopping organisations open, by day and hour

Opening hours on record for 177 of 304 Retail & Shopping organisations (58%)

On record for 58% — indicative
Organisations open0171
00061218MonTueWedThuFriSatSunmidnight ↑

24% of those publishing a weekly grid open on a Sunday, and 88% on a Saturday. The median week runs 48 hours. Published opening hours only; a business that does not publish hours is not counted as closed. 235 hold hours of some shape, of which 177 resolve to a weekly grid and 58 are seasonal or per-site prose that must not be half-parsed.

What this chapter cannot yet say

These modules are on record for too few of the 304 organisations counted here to draw. A blank is deliberate: the module reports its base rather than a number it cannot stand behind.

  • Kinds of shop88 of 304 on record

This chapter’s row on the evidence map →

Newly verified

#pulse ⧉

The last 90 days

+121
Retail & Shopping organisations added to the register (discovery, not openings)
1
recorded as no longer trading in the window

Use these numbers

#use ⧉

Free to reuse, with attribution

Every section has a stable anchor and every count traces to published evidence — licence CC BY 4.0, credit “Island Graph” with a link.

Island Graph, The Guernsey Business Census — Retail & Shopping, Q3 2026 edition, island.gg/census/2026-q3/retail-shopping — frozen 30 September 2026.

The whole Q3 2026 edition →

How this chapter counts

#method ⧉

The bases every figure here divides by

This chapter counts over the 304 active organisations whose primary sector is Retail & Shopping — 8% of the 3,582 with a primary sector on record; the wider 352 who work in Retail & Shopping at all are counted in every sector they work in, and are used only where a sentence says “works in”. Each module then divides by what is actually on record for it — a parish for 259, a founding year for 138, a capability resolved to the graph for 202, opening hours that resolve to a weekly grid for 177 — and those bases are printed under every chart, because the denominator is part of the datum.

This sector’s own coverage was measured at 82% on 30 September 2026, by capture–recapture against Google's business listings for the Bailiwick, with every organisation that was itself added from those listings left out of the comparison so the two counts stay independent. Every count above is a floor.

This chapter’s row on the evidence map — what each module here may and may not claim →

Full methodology — populations, tiers, biases and how coverage is measured →