When it comes to retail, consumers have high expectations regarding cleanliness. Most consumers expect shopping centers and retail stores to be cleaner the homes they live in themselves. This can prove to be a challenge for retail managers, who oversee retail cleaning tasks. At Affordable Window Cleaning Miami, we offer various Miami retail cleaning services for shopping centers and retail stores. In today’s post, we aim to provide you with advice on keeping your retail space clean. We also expand the importance of pressure cleaning shopping centers and what areas are often neglected when cleaning stores.
Why it’s Challenging to Keep Retail Stores and Shopping Centers Clean?
Retail stores and shopping centers are public spaces. Most stores and shopping centers see a lot of daily foot traffic. Have you ever noticed how quickly the floors in your home dirty when a lot of people are moving in and out? That’s because everyone who goes outside gathers dirt, dust and grime from outside, which is deposited on the floors when they walk into the house.
The same happens in shopping centers, only on a much larger scale. It’s hard to keep a space clean when there’s constant foot traffic. Not only do these people bring in dirt from the outside, they also untidy the space while there.
It helps if the shopping center floors are kept clean, as this will make the task of keeping each store within the center clean easier.
That said, with the right janitorial supplies, staff training and professional retail cleaning services, keeping a shopping center clean needn’t be so difficult.
Janitorial Cleaning Supplies for Retail Cleaning
Janitors won’t be able to clean properly without the right cleaning supplies. Once you have some cleaning trolleys, be sure to fill them with the necessary equipment for retail cleaning.
Here’s what your janitors will need in each trolley:
- Microfiber mop
- Broom
- Brush and scoop
- Microfiber cleaning cloths
- Cotton cleaning cloths
- Window squeegee
- An all-purpose cleaning solution
- A floor-cleaning solution
- Furniture cleaner and polish
- Disinfectant solution
- Window cleaner
- Cleaning gloves
- Wet floor signs
- Trash can liners
While it won’t be part of the cleaning trolley, you should also have some commercial vacuum cleaners to pick up dust and debris from the floors.
How to Keep Shopping Center Floors Clean?
As mentioned, the high amount of foot traffic in shopping centers means there’s a lot of dirt coming into the mall from outside. There are a few things managers can do to ensure floors stay cleaner for longer:
- Places mats at every entrance to collect dirt from visitors’ shoes before they enter.
- Clean entrance mats daily to ensure they remain effective at collecting dirt.
- Pressure wash parking lots regularly. A clean parking lot means less dirt will be coming in from the outside, especially for undercover parking.
Using a special commercial vacuum cleaner is a great way to ensure floors stay clean. A good vacuum cleaner can reduce the time it takes to clean floors. There are also commercial vacuum cleaners available that vacuum, mop and dry floors in one go. The benefit of this is that staff will spend much less time cleaning floors. As the machine will dry floors too, the chances of a slip-and-fall accident are greatly reduced.
How to Keep Shopping Center Bathrooms Clean?
Keeping bathrooms clean is different from other areas. Bathrooms are a breeding ground for germs. Bathroom cleaning is probably the least glamorous cleaning job, but it has to be done.
Here are some tips on keeping the shopping center bathroom hygienic and spotless:
- Appoint cleaning staff specifically to bathrooms. One staff member for every two bathrooms should be enough, depending on the size of the bathrooms.
- Supply staff with special cleaning supplies for bathroom cleaning.
- Train staff to wipe all bathroom surfaces with a disinfectant. Taps, door handles and toilet seats are especially important.
- Set up hourly checks for each bathroom where a staff member will inspect the bathroom to ensure its cleanliness.
- Have cleaners wipe up water spills immediately to avoid people stepping in the puddle, as this will spread the problem.
- Make sure that mirrors are cleaned often.
- Supply cleaners with “out of order” signs for toilet cubicle handles.
- Clean toilets daily with toilet cleaner
Hanging “out of order” signs is useful when there’s a plumbing issue with one of the toilets. It can also give cleaners a chance to let a toilet cleaning solution stay in the bowel for a while to effectively disinfect and clean it. This done one toilet at a time during times of the day when traffic is low.
Retail Cleaning Schedules and Staff Management
The two most important aspects of cleaning retail spaces is having the correct supplies and managing staff correctly. Be sure all staff members are trained on retail cleaning best practices.
Also be sure to set up an effective schedule and checklist for cleaning tasks. This will help staff members manage their time well while ensuring no areas in the shopping center or store are forgotten.
If possible, have cleaning staff do a short training program on cleaning protocols for your shopping center to ensure cleanliness standards are met.
Outsourcing Work to a Retail Cleaning Service
Shopping center staff will be able to do everyday cleaning tasks, however, there are some cleaning jobs that should be outsourced to a professional cleaning company. Jobs to outsource typically include tasks that staff are unable to do, as well as exterior cleaning. The following jobs should typically be outsourced to a Miami retail cleaning service:
- Interior and exterior pressure washing
- Cleaning skylights and windows that are high up
- Roof cleaning
- Cleaning gutters and drainage systems
- High-rise cleaning on walls, windows and other structures
- Spring cleaning warehouses where stores keep stock
While these tasks don’t make up part of daily cleaning, they should be done at least annually or biannually to keep your retail space in mint condition. Setting up a regular schedule with a retail cleaning service is a good way to ensure the shopping center is always immaculately clean.
Benefits of Pressure Cleaning Shopping Centers
As mentioned, consumers normally expect shopping centers and stores to be cleaner than their own homes. This expectation is the same for both the inside and outside of the premises.
Pressure cleaning is a great way to remove tough dirt and grimy buildup in exterior spaces of the shopping mall. Here’s why pressure cleaning is great for shopping centers:
- High pressure water beams effectively remove though dirt and stains.
- Intensive cleaning provides results that lives up to the expectations of consumers.
- Pressure cleaning is great for areas where other methods are too tedious or ineffective.
- Regular retail pressure cleaning can cut on maintenance costs, due to mold or algae growths.
Hiring Miami retail cleaning services is a great way to take care of some work that your regular cleaning staff aren’t equipped to do. For example, the following cleaning services can be contracted out to a pressure washing retail cleaning service:
- Parking lots
- Building exteriors
- Sidewalks and pavements
- Exterior signage
- Exterior store fronts
- Warehouse of depot center floors and structures
- Shopping carts
- Concrete or tiled flooring
- Restaurant decks
When hiring a company to pressure clean a shopping center, make sure that there aren’t spots that are forgotten. There are many parts of the center where consumers won’t walk that also need cleaning. Loading dock pavements and store depot centers also need to be cleaned.
Windows skylights that are too high to reach are also easy to forget about. Book regular sessions with a commercial window cleaner to ensure all windows are kept spotless.
Miami Retail Cleaning Services
Affordable Window Cleaning Miami can take care of all your retail cleaning needs. Our retail cleaning services are will help keep your shopping center spotless. From pressure washing parking lots, to cleaning grease stains from automotive workshop floors, our team of professional pressure cleaners know how to handle your job properly.
As our company name suggests, we also offer commercial window cleaning services. We are fully equipped to handle any window cleaning job. If you need to hire a professional retail cleaning company to clean skylights and high up windows that regular staff can reach, feel free to contact us.