Hardware shop website: Cricklade Hardware, Cricklade
Cricklade Hardware is an independent hardware shop on Cricklade High Street in Wiltshire, run by Paul Harris since November 2023. It sells paint, tools, fixings, cleaning and kitchen goods and winter fuel, cuts keys, and engraves house signs, pet tags and gifts. It stocks far more than any website could list, and Paul did not want an online shop, or a static brochure either. He wanted more local people walking through the door, from Cricklade and the area around it, not orders from across the country. We designed and built a site for exactly that, took it live on its own domain in November 2026, and tune it through the first three months.
The site, live today.
A busy one-man shop that wanted to be seen by the people around it, not by the whole country, and to give them a reason to walk in.
Live site, as it looks today on desktop and mobile (5 November 2026). Visit crickladehardware.co.uk →
The job, at a glance.
Problem, build, result.
What they needed
An independent shop with far more stock than anyone could list, a range that changes every week, one owner and no website. Paul did not want an online shop, and he did not want a static brochure. He wanted more local people through the door, and he had no way to show his stock like a shop with a database.
The build
A site that works like the shop. A search bar that says which aisle something would be in, a "Walk the aisles" guide to each aisle's range and brands, and "Ask Paul" for anything not listed, because Paul can check the shelf or order it in. Opening hours, an open now line, directions and a map put the door at the end of every page.
Why it is built this way
A local shop does not need orders from across the country. It needs the people nearby to see that it exists, to trust that Paul can sort it, and to walk in. So the site shows what the shop offers without claiming stock it cannot know, turns "not listed" into a WhatsApp message, and makes visiting easy. It is live on the shop's own domain.
The problems, and how we solved them.
Every project hits real obstacles. These are the ones on this build, each with what it was and what we did about it.
Showing a shop's stock without an online shop
The challenge. Paul stocks far more than anyone could list, and the range changes every week. He did not want an online shop, and he did not want a static brochure that just sits there. The hard part was putting across what the shop offers, and that he can get more in, without a catalogue to keep up to date.
How we solved it. A search bar on every page. Type what you need, such as limescale remover, logs or a house sign, and it shows which aisle or page covers it. It never claims an item is in stock. If something is not listed, it says Ask Paul and opens WhatsApp with the message already written, because Paul will check the shelf or order it in. "Walk the aisles" shows each aisle's range and brands as logos, with no prices, so nothing goes out of date.
Being visible to locals, not the whole country
The challenge. Paul wanted to be found by people in Cricklade and the area around it, not across the country. Online his shop barely existed: no website, thin directory listings, and one of them showed his address under a letting agent.
How we solved it. We built the site for the searches locals make. The shop's name, address, two phone numbers and opening hours are written the same way everywhere, with the markup Google reads for a local shop and a sitemap, and there is a page for what people nearby look for: keys cut, house signs, hard water in Cricklade and car fragrances. Paul has made us a manager of his Google Business Profile, so the listing and the website tell the same story.
Getting people through the door
The challenge. The aim was footfall, not clicks. Paul gets calls when the shop is shut, his mobile is his own long-standing number, and web forms have lost him enquiries before.
How we solved it. Every page ends at the door: an open now line, directions, a map, the landline and the mobile together as he asked, and WhatsApp with the message already written. There is no enquiry form to lose messages. On a phone the three buttons sit in one bar in three different colours, so nobody taps Call when they meant Directions.
Engraving was his best work and invisible online
The challenge. Engraving is where Paul's craft is: house signs, pet tags, key rings and slate Christmas decorations. Nobody searching nearby could tell he did it.
How we solved it. House signs, key cutting and Christmas gifts each have their own page, with the prices Paul confirmed himself, not guessed ones. The next step is a WhatsApp message that is already written: send your words, collect in Cricklade or have it posted by Royal Mail.
A new product line with little to go on
The challenge. Paul had started selling 89 Aromatic car fragrances and wanted them given a proper space. We had a few photos, retailers disagreed on how long a bottle lasts, and a picture cropped from his photo looked cheap.
How we solved it. A page of its own and a block on the homepage, researched from the maker's information, with scent notes worded as "the maker describes", only the three sprays Paul stocks, and in-car pictures rebuilt from his photos. Where sources disagreed we used the cautious figure. His prices are on the page, with the 15% off he asked for in November and December.
A local problem worth its own page
The challenge. Paul mentioned that hard water is a problem for people in Cricklade. We did not want to guess, and before and after pictures can easily mislead.
How we solved it. We checked the published water hardness figures for the Cricklade supply zone and put them on the page, with a pointer to check your own postcode. The page explains what limescale does and what helps, the before and after sliders are marked as illustrative, and it names no product prices that would date. The first hero picture was a dark, cluttered shelf that did not read as hard water, so we replaced it with a clean chrome tap.
Christmas, with stock that keeps changing
The challenge. Christmas is the busiest stretch of the year, the range changes weekly, and some of the best new stock arrived after the design was done.
How we solved it. A Christmas section across the site: engraved gifts with the last order date Paul gave us, decorations and lights, the real shopfront in its Christmas windows, and a "Fresh on the shelves" block with clean pictures of the new stock. That block first said it pulled from Facebook, which it did not, so we corrected the wording.
Stock and prices change every week, and Paul is busy
The challenge. New stock, prices and photos change all the time, and Paul did not want to ring a developer each time or learn a complicated tool.
How we solved it. We built a small CMS for him: he logs in, types what is new, adds a price if he wants one and a photo, and it goes on the homepage, newest first, with the oldest dropping off. It needs no database and no new subscription, and it only touches that block, so the page wording and the search setup stay in our hands.
Phone photos that did not look like the brand
The challenge. Most of what Paul had were quick phone photos of shelves: blurry, with price tags in shot. Dropped into the site as they were, they made a good shop look cheap.
How we solved it. We used his photos as references and made clean, consistent pictures in the same light and style as the rest of the site, only of products he had really sent us. Anything he does not sell stays off the site. Where his own photo was already good, such as the shopfront, we kept it.
Most visitors will arrive on a phone
The challenge. Testing on a real iPhone before launch found the menu empty, the aisle pictures cropped too tightly and a phone button invisible on a dark background.
How we solved it. We fixed all three, and made it a rule that every phone menu opens with a close button and shuts when you tap anywhere in it. The footer was tidied for small screens too.
Going live without touching his email
The challenge. Paul's domain and his email already existed, and the email had to keep working while the site went live.
How we solved it. We connected only the website to the domain and left the email records exactly as they were, which we checked afterwards. The site is built from GitHub and hosted on Cloudflare, so every change is saved and can be rolled back.
Knowing whether it brings people in
The challenge. A one-person shop needs to know whether the site is working, without a cookie banner that gets in the way.
How we solved it. Google Analytics sits behind a small consent bar, and once a visitor accepts it counts taps on call, email, WhatsApp and directions, the steps towards the door. The privacy policy says so, and the site is set up for Google Search Console. We tune the site against what it shows for three months after launch.
A look around.
Real screenshots of the live site, taken on 5 November 2026, desktop and phone.
Hand-coded, written down, yours.
Every site we build follows the same rules, so you always know what you are getting and who owns it.
Hand-coded, no template
Written by hand for this business. No theme, no page builder, no pile of plugins slowing it down.
Fast, and better for search
Less code means faster pages, and speed is one of the things Google looks at. It also keeps visitors from leaving.
SEO and AEO, written down
What we do for Google and for AI assistants is agreed in writing before we start, then reported in plain English.
You own it
Once the final invoice is paid, the domain, the code, the words and the pictures are yours.
How we work, step by step → What a custom website includes →
Questions, answered.
What did YektaD build for Cricklade Hardware?
A hand-coded website from scratch for an independent hardware shop that wanted more local people through the door and no online shop: a search bar that points to the right aisle and sends anything not listed to Paul on WhatsApp, a "walk the aisles" guide, pages for engraving and house signs, car fragrances, key cutting and hard water, a Christmas range, and one tap to WhatsApp, call, email and directions on every page.
Does Cricklade Hardware sell online?
No, by design. The site brings people to the shop at 102 High Street, Cricklade. Engraved gifts can be collected in Cricklade or posted by Royal Mail, and anything else is a WhatsApp message to Paul.
How does the search bar work without an online shop?
It shows which aisle or page covers what you typed, and it never claims an item is in stock. If something is not listed, it says to ask Paul and opens WhatsApp with the message already written, because Paul can check the shelf or order it in.
Where is Cricklade Hardware?
At 102 High Street, Cricklade, Wiltshire SN6 6AA. It is run by Paul Harris and opened in November 2023.
Can you build a site for an independent shop?
Yes. A local shop needs the people nearby to see what it offers, when it is open and how to reach the owner, without the cost of running a checkout. We build the site around those jobs, then set it up for Google.
Run a shop or a local business?
Cricklade Hardware went from no website to a live, branded site on its own domain in about three weeks, with the words, the pictures and the setup done properly. Book a free discovery call, or read How to get found on Google.
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