From a window to a parts counter
The parts department sits behind a slat wall in the service reception area, and the two were connected by a plain window. The dealership wanted to hand parts straight through to the service side, so the window became a counter: a black shelf was fitted on the reception side and a second shelf on the parts side.
A counter that is open all day still has to close at night, and the parts room holds stock. That is where the shutter comes in. Closed, it fills the opening between the two shelves; open, it rolls away above the counter and the parts staff work through the opening as they would at any counter.
What We Installed
| Opening | 1, former window between the parts department and service reception |
|---|---|
| Product | Roll-up counter shutter, built to size |
| Colour | Black, box, guides and slats |
| Operation | Spring-loaded, lifted by hand |
| Locking | Sliding locks on the bottom slat, parts side |
| Mounting | Box and guides on the parts-room side of the wall, shelf below the opening |
| Property | Mazda dealership, Hamilton |
How we fitted it
The box and the guides are mounted on the parts-room side of the wall, above and beside the opening, so from the service reception the opening is clean: just the white-trimmed frame, the black slats and the shelf. On the parts side the black box sits on the wall above the counter and the guides run down to the shelf.
The shutter was built to the opening after the counter was in. Black was chosen to sit against the dark grey slat wall and the black shelves, so on the reception side the closed shutter reads as part of the wall.
Spring-loaded operation and locks
This shutter is spring-loaded rather than motorized. The curtain is balanced on a spring in the box, so a member of staff lifts it by hand from the bottom slat and it rolls up and stays; pulling it down closes it. There is no motor, no remote and no wiring, which suited a counter that is opened once in the morning and closed once at night.
Sliding locks on the bottom slat secure the curtain when it is down. They are operated from the parts side, so the counter can only be opened from inside the parts room.
More about counter shutters, or see our work in Hamilton.
