GuernseyIsland Graph
DraftThis census is a draft. Its figures are live and move as verification proceeds, and nothing here is final until the first frozen edition — Q3 2026, cut on 30 September 2026.Edition calendar →
The Guernsey Business CensusChapter 4 of 16Draft

Retail & Shopping

301 organisations are counted with Retail & Shopping as their primary sector — 9% of everything with a sector on record, and the 4th largest of 16. A further 97 organisations work in it alongside another sector.

As of 4 September 2026⧉ Cite this chapterBrowse the Retail & Shopping directory← The whole census

The count

301

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

398Work in it at all
18Sub-sectors on record
10Parishes represented
192With capabilities mapped
14Capability domains

Coverage

#coverage ⧉

How complete is this sector’s count?

301 counted & publishedmeasured coverage 80%

An estimated 80% of this sector’s organisations are counted — the 8th-highest measured coverage 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 record55This attribute is on record for 301 of 301 organisations (100%)Specialist Retail — 18% of the sector, ahead of Clothing & Fashion (44) and Gifts & Cards (37).
Retail & Shopping organisations with a website of their own62%Counted over all 301 active organisations186 of 301, against 67% island-wide — 5 points below the island rate, the 4th-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 all398Counted over all 3,680 active organisations97 more than the 301 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 graph64%A capability on record for 192 of 301 organisations (64%)192 of 301, against 71% island-wide, the lowest capability coverage of the 12 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 — 123 of the 257 whose parish is on record, a concentration of 1.12 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 257 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (85%)

Share vs the islandunder ½×below island share≈ island shareup to 2×over 2×
St Peter P…1.12St Sampson1.55Vale0.80Castel0.89St Saviour0.77St Pierre du Bois0.77Torteval—Forest—St Martin0.62St Andrew—

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 32 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 55 organisations

Every organisation is counted once, in its primary sub-sector. Separately, 97 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 301 active Retail & Shopping organisations

Specialist Retail55 18%Clothing & Fashion44 15%Gifts & Cards37 12%Hardware & DIY26 9%Jewellery & Watches20 7%Convenience Stores17 6%Home & Garden Retail13 4%Pharmacies13 4%Florists12 4%Books & Stationery11 4%Health & Beauty11 4%Electronics & Appliances9 3%Charity Shops8 3%Supermarkets & Grocers8 3%Sports & Outdoor6 2%Pet Shops & Supplies5 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. 97 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".

Parishes

#parishes ⧉

St Peter Port holds 123 of them

1 in 2 of the 257 whose parish is on record. Off Guernsey: 23 on Alderney, 8 on Sark and 1 on Herm.

Headcount#parishes-count ⧉

Retail & Shopping organisations by parish

A parish on record for 257 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (85%)

Organisations0123
St Peter P…123St Sampson53Vale27Castel19St Saviour6St Pierre du Bois6Torteval1Forest4St Martin14St Andrew4

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 32 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 132 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (44%)

On record for 44% — indicative
0102030pre-18001950–792000–09262020s

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 2020s26A founding year on record for 132 of 301 organisations (44%)Of those that publish a founding year at all.On record for 44% — indicative

Capabilities

#capabilities ⧉

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

64% of the sector have at least one service resolved to the graph, across 14 domains, against 71% island-wide, the lowest capability coverage of the 12 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.

By group#capability-groups ⧉

Capability groups on record

A capability on record for 192 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (64%)

Gifts, cards & crafts67 35%Homeware & furnishings49 26%Clothing & footwear39 20%Specialist & second-hand shops38 20%Trade counters & merchants24 13%Jewellery & watches21 11%Everyday & convenience17 9%Carpentry & joinery10 5%Tiling & flooring10 5%Electrical8 4%Painting & decorating4 2%Specialist trades3 2%Plastering & rendering2 1%Plumbing, heating & ventilation2 1%General building & structural1 1%Windows, doors & glazing1 1%

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.

122 of the 192 with a capability on record span two or more of these groups (64%). 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 192 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (64%)

Gifts & giftware53 28%Homeware & home décor33 17%Clothing & fashion31 16%Greeting cards & stationery21 11%Jewellery & watches20 10%Souvenirs & Guernsey gifts19 10%Hardware & DIY14 7%Plumbers' & electrical merchants14 7%Bespoke jewellery & goldsmithing13 7%Builders' & timber merchants13 7%Shoes & footwear12 6%Supermarkets & grocers12 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 192 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (64%)

Organisations024
Gifts & gift…Homeware & h…Clothing & f…Greeting car…Jewellery &…Souvenirs &…Hardware & D…Plumbers' &…Bespoke jewe…Builders' &…Shoes & foot…Supermarkets…Gifts & gift…Homeware & h…Clothing & f…Greeting car…Jewellery &…Souvenirs &…Hardware & D…Plumbers' &…Bespoke jewe…Builders' &…Shoes & foot…Supermarkets…

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 168 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (56%)

On record for 56% — indicative
This is what they do117 70%Core to the business82 49%One of many services68 40%A sideline20 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 4th-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 301 active Retail & Shopping organisations

Retail & ShoppingThe island
0%50%100%Has a website62%67%Website on a .gg domain15%27%Links a social account of any kind48%52%Links a Facebook page46%49%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 own186Counted over all 301 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 301 active Retail & Shopping organisations46 of 186, against 40% of the 2,470 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.

Legal form#form-legal ⧉

Retail & Shopping organisations by legal form

A legal form on record for 95 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (32%)

On record for 32% — indicative
Limited company66 69%Sole trader15 16%Charity9 9%Other5 5%

Sole traders are the systematic undercount here: a limited company publishes its form, a sole trader rarely does.

A further 24 organisations hold something in the legal-form slot that is not a legal form — filing notes, a bare year. Those leave the denominator rather than inflating “other”.

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 170 of 301 Retail & Shopping organisations (56%)

On record for 56% — indicative
Organisations open0163
00061218MonTueWedThuFriSatSunmidnight ↑

1 in 4 of those publishing a weekly grid open on a Sunday, and 89% 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. 229 hold hours of some shape, of which 170 resolve to a weekly grid and 59 are seasonal or per-site prose that must not be half-parsed.

Gaps

#gaps ⧉

What this chapter cannot yet say

These modules are on record for too few of the 301 organisations counted here to draw. A blank is deliberate: the module reports its base rather than a number it cannot stand behind.

  • Kinds of shop84 of 301 on record

This chapter’s row on the evidence map →

Newly verified

#pulse ⧉

The last 90 days

+129
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.

census.csvsector × parishcensus.jsonevery aggregateAbout the dataFull methodologyPress desk
Island Graph, The Guernsey Business Census — Retail & Shopping, island.gg/census/retail-shopping — as of 4 September 2026.

The whole census →

How this chapter counts

#method ⧉

The bases every figure here divides by

This chapter counts over the 301 active organisations whose primary sector is Retail & Shopping — 9% of the 3,406 with a primary sector on record; the wider 398 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 257, a founding year for 132, a capability resolved to the graph for 192, opening hours that resolve to a weekly grid for 170 — and those bases are printed under every chart, because the denominator is part of the datum.

This sector’s own coverage was measured at 80% on 3 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 →