Identify the real owners
on the high street.
Selling to retail means navigating a complex mix of independent shops, franchises, and multi-site groups. Pitching the person behind the till wastes your time and theirs. Adapt untangles high-street business structures, showing you the exact trading entity and the named directors behind the storefront. When a retailer registers a new site or incorporates a new brand, Adapt flags the growth signal, allowing you to approach the owner just as they are making purchasing decisions.
Hi Priya,
I saw Fennimore has moved to Hockley. Good luck with the new shop.
If the till is on the list while you fit out, I can show you ours in ten minutes, in the shop or on a call.
Ben
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The right owner behind every fascia.
Its own company, not the franchisor's
A shop trading under a brand keeps its own company. We don't give every shop the brand's company number.
The sign and the legal name
The trading name and the company that operates the shop sit side by side on the record.
Named where the register names them
Directors and owners, with whether their own mailbox is verified.
A number in a website footer proves who runs the website.
Many shops copy their parent's company number into a page footer. That tells you who runs the website, not who runs the shop. So when many sites share one number, we don't treat it as a register fact for each of them, and your email goes to the person who actually runs the one you want.
Firms that sell to shops.
A few of the people who use the book to reach independent retailers.
Questions, answered
What happens with a franchise?
Each shop that trades under a brand keeps its own company, not the franchisor's. A company number shared by many shops is treated as the brand's, not each shop's.
Why don't shops share the brand's company number?
Because a number printed in a shared footer tells you who runs the website, not who runs each shop. We don't treat a number shared by many sites as a register fact for each of them.
How do I search for shops?
Use the sector and place filters, or ask Vela in plain English, for example independent gift shops in Harrogate.
Are the numbers checked?
Every phone number and email says how sure we are, and a catch-all or unanswered email is labelled rather than hidden.
See who is in the book.
Run the sector and see how many businesses match.