A guide to know how to open a shop, what requirements are needed, what licenses and permits must be obtained and an indication of the costs.
What do you need to open a shop?
The rules for opening a store vary by store surface and vary regionally and municipally. Therefore, before opening a business we advise you to inform yourself well at the Municipality where the business to be opened will be located.
But let’s see what permissions are needed:
- Commercial licenses
One of the most significant changes of that relating to the commercial license. This is no longer necessary for small businesses (called ” neighborhood businesses “) that have a sales area within 150 square meters in municipalities with a resident population of less than 10,000 inhabitants and within 250 square meters in municipalities with a higher resident population to 10,000 inhabitants.
There remains the obligation to obtain the commercial license for medium-sized sales structures, for large sales structures (shopping centers) and for tobacconists (since they sell products subject to the state monopoly).
The license for these shops must be requested from the Municipality where the shop will be located. However, it is necessary to check with the Municipality the methods, times and requirements for issuing the license.
- SKI
To open a shop that does not require a commercial license, simply send a communication called (Certified Start of Business Reporting). This must be sent to the (Single Window of Productive Activities) of the Municipality where the shop will be located within 30 days before the start of the activity.
The SCIA is a self-certification which declares the start date of the activity, the commodity sector (food or non-food), the location and the sales area of the shop, compliance with the rules that regulate the sector and the possession of certain requirements.
The SCIA can only be transmitted electronically by a trade association or by a qualified professional (accountant).
Requirements to open a shop
So-called “moral“requirements are also required to open a business. In fact, they cannot open a shop:
- habitual, professional or tendency offenders
- those who reported a definitive sentence to a custodial sentence of not less than three years
- those sentenced definitively for receiving stolen goods, money laundering, fraudulent insolvency, fraudulent bankruptcy, usury, robbery, crimes against the person committed with violence, extortion
- those who have been definitively convicted of crimes against hygiene and public health
- Those who have reported two or more convictions, in the five-year period preceding the start of the business, for crimes of fraud in the preparation and sale of food provided for by special laws.
The ban on exercising the business lasts for five years and runs from the day the sentence was served.
In the case of a sole proprietorship, company, associations, the requirements must be possessed by the owner or legal representative and by another person in charge of the commercial activity.
Another necessary requirement is to obtain the accessibility of the premises. This must certify that the shop is suitable for the type of activity from the hygienic-sanitary point of view and the accessibility to the room for the disabled. First of all, you need the consent of the ASL on compliance with the established requirements concerning, for example, the height of the room, the number of windows, the heating or air conditioning system, access to the toilets, etc. Depending on the type of business. For more information, we recommend that you contact the competent municipality.
It must then be ascertained that the intendeduse of the shop is suitable for retail sale. For example, if you want to open a shop in a warehouse building, you will have to change the intended use.
The location of the shop should also be considered. In fact, some Municipalities have imposed restrictions on the location of the premises and on the distances from other shops to be respected.
Requirements to open a restaurant business (bar, restaurant, hotel)
To open a restaurant business, in addition to the moral requirements listed above, the owner or legal representative must not have been definitively convicted of crimes against public morality and morality, for crimes committed in a drunken state or in a state drug intoxication, for crimes relating to the prevention of alcoholism, narcotic or psychotropic substances, gambling, illegal betting, as well as for crimes related to infringements of the rules on games.
For this type of activity, registration in the REC (Commercial Merchants Register) is no longer required. It is instead necessary to attend the SAB course (Course for Food and Beverage Administration) organized by the Chambers of Commerce. In alternative, you must meet at least one of these conditions.
- having worked for at least two years, in the last five years, in a sales or food production activitybe in possession of a diploma from upper secondary school or a degree, even a three-year one, or from another school with a professional orientation , at least three years , in a course of study on subjects related to trade, preparation or administration of food
- having carried out, for at least two years, even if not continuous, in the last five years, a wholesale or retail sale of food products or having worked for these companies, as an employee, in charge of the sale or to the administration or preparation of maintenance, or as a working partner or in other equivalent positions or, if it is a spouse, relative or similar, within the third degree, of the entrepreneur, as a family assistant.
What to do to start the business?
To open the business, all the classic requirements are also required to start a business: open a VAT number, register with the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Register, with the INPRS Traders Management and open a Ministry of Labour and Social Policies. Position, if you want hires employees or collaborators.
Fortunately, today with a single procedure through the Communicatetelematics service of the Chambers of Commerce it is possible to register in the Business Register, request the Tax Code, the VAT number, the registration to the INPRS of employees or self-employed workers and the opening of the insurance position.
The “Single Communication” is transmitted electronically by the owner or legal representative or by an intermediary who is in possession of a digital signature credential and certified email address (PEC) of the company.
The PEC (Certified Electronic Mail) box is mandatory for all entrepreneurs and allows you to send e-mails with legal value. The PEC is in fact equated to a registered letter with return receipt.
Our documents to open a shop
It you can immediately customize and download all the documents necessary to open your shop by answering a few simple guided questions:
- Simplified Constitutive Act and Statute SRL: to set up a simplified limited liability company with one person or with several partners
- Articles of incorporation and Articles of Association SRL : to set up a limited liability company with one person or with several partners
- Commercial Lease Agreement : to rent a property for commercial use
- Estimator Contract (sales account) : to pay the price of the products only after selling them to the end customer
- Periodic Supply Contract of Goods : to regulate the supply of goods between suppliers and their customers
You may also need the following contracts:
- Franchising Agreement (Commercial Affiliation) : to join a network of affiliated stores
- Commercial Distribution Agreement : for the marketing of goods in a specific territory
- Real Estate Purchase Preliminary : to sell a property to a buyer who undertakes to buy it within a period
- Temporary Shop Contract : to regulate the leasing of a space or retail store for a short period
