Your inventory, your storefront, your customers.
Coverage for boutiques, specialty shops, galleries and stores, from a single storefront to a few locations.
By Sam Alishahi · CA Insurance License #4348151 · Reviewed November 2026 · How this page is researched
Most of it fits in one package
A business owner's policy covers most shops: inventory and fixtures, customer slip-and-falls, products you sell, and the income you lose if a fire or water leak closes the store. Seasonal inventory peaks, theft and valuable stock may need to be addressed separately.
Landlords and shopping centers usually set insurance requirements in the lease. I place retail coverage based on what you sell, your inventory values and the space.
- Inventory and fixturesStock, displays and improvements.
- General and product liabilityCustomer injuries and claims from products you sell.
- Business incomeLost income while the store is closed after a covered loss.
- CrimeEmployee theft and some forms of fraud, when added.
What underwriters will ask
Having these ready means I can go to market on the first call. The quote form asks for the same things, and anything you don’t know yet can wait.
- Products: what you sell, and any you make or import.
- Inventory: typical and peak values.
- Location: square footage, lease and improvements.
- Revenue and staff: sales, payroll and employees.
- Security: alarm, cameras and locks.
- History: current policies and claims.
Accessibility lawsuits: ADA, Unruh and CASp
The Justice Department's ADA primer for businesses names stores among the 12 categories of public accommodations covered by ADA Title III. In an existing store, the ADA requires you to remove architectural barriers when that is "readily achievable," which the department describes as easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense, based on the size and resources of the business.
California adds money to the claim. Civil Code 52(a) sets damages for each offense at no less than $4,000, plus any attorney's fees the court awards. In a construction-related accessibility claim, Civil Code 55.56 allows those statutory damages only if a violation denied the plaintiff full and equal access on a particular occasion, and assesses them per occasion rather than per violation. Access laws outside California vary by state.
What a California store can do before a demand letter arrives:
- Get a CASp inspection. Under Civil Code 55.56(g)(1), the minimum drops to $1,000 per offense if the area had already been inspected by a Certified Access Specialist (among other conditions) and you correct every violation in the claim within 60 days of being served with the complaint.
- Use the small-business rules. A business averaging 25 or fewer employees and under $3,500,000 in average annual gross receipts over the past three years that corrects everything within 30 days of being served faces a $2,000 minimum. A business with 50 or fewer employees whose CASp inspection came before any claim or demand letter, and that fixes the items in the report within 120 days of the inspection, is not liable for minimum statutory damages during those 120 days.
- Read the lease. Civil Code 1938 requires a commercial lease to say whether the premises were CASp-inspected. Repairs listed in a CASp report are presumed to be the landlord's responsibility unless the lease says otherwise.
Under 55.56(g)(7), none of this changes actual or treble actual damages. When I quote a store, I ask each carrier in writing whether its policy would respond to an access demand letter.
When the street closes, not your store: civil authority
Business income coverage is usually discussed for a fire or leak inside your own store. Stores on a busy block or in a center also lose sales when a neighbor's building burns and authorities close the area. The civil authority provision in the ISO Business Income and Extra Expense form, CP 00 30, is written for that. As IRMI quotes the 10 12 edition:
- The damage is somewhere else. A covered cause of loss damages property other than property at your premises.
- Access is prohibited. A civil authority prohibits access to the area immediately around the damaged property and to your premises, and your store is in that area and not more than one mile from the damaged property.
- Business income waits. It begins 72 hours after the first action of civil authority and runs up to four consecutive weeks.
- Extra expense starts at once. It begins immediately after the first action and ends four consecutive weeks later or when the business income piece ends, whichever is later.
IRMI's commentary adds that orders which only impede or regulate access, while still letting people in, generally do not count as prohibitions. A closed lane that slows customers is a different question from a cordon that keeps them out. Before you buy, I read the waiting period, distance and duration on your actual form. See business owner's policy and commercial property insurance.
Retail store insurance, answered
What is a business owner's policy?
A package that combines property, general liability and business income for smaller businesses, often at a lower cost than buying them separately.
Are products I sell covered?
Product liability is usually included for products you sell. Products you manufacture or import may need more review.
Is shoplifting covered?
Theft coverage varies, and routine shoplifting is often excluded. Break-ins and employee theft can be covered.
What do underwriters rate on?
What you sell, inventory values, location, security and claims history.
Does a CASp inspection stop ADA lawsuits in California?
No. Under Civil Code 55.56(g) it can lower the minimum statutory damages, for example to $1,000 per offense for a previously CASp-inspected area that corrects all violations within 60 days of being served with the complaint, but under 55.56(g)(7) it does not affect actual or treble actual damages.
Do you offer retail store insurance outside California?
Yes. Clients across the country send the same quote form. Sam Alishahi is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, DC and places policies there directly. The shopping across carriers works the same way. Rules, minimums and markets differ by state — see insurance requirements by state.
Official sources
- ADA.gov: ADA Update, A Primer for Businesses (Title III)
- California Civil Code 52 (Unruh Act damages)
- California Civil Code 55.56 (construction-related accessibility claims, CASp)
- California Civil Code 1938 (commercial lease CASp disclosure)
- CPSC: Duty to Report to the CPSC, Your Rights and Responsibilities
- 15 U.S.C. 2068 Prohibited acts (Cornell LII)
- IRMI: Vendors coverage (definition)
- IRMI: COVID-19, When Civil Authorities Take Over, Are You Covered? (quotes CP 00 30 10 12)
- PCI SSC FAQ: Does PCI DSS apply to merchants who outsource all payment processing?
- California Civil Code 1798.82 (data breach notification)
Tell me about your store. I'll shop it.
What you sell and your inventory values are enough to start.
Alishahi Insurance · Saman Alishahi, independent insurance broker, California License #4348151. General information, not a quote or a promise of coverage; coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.
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