Materials Used in the Construction of Shop Shelving

We come into contact with shop shelving on nearly a daily basis and it’s very easy to take it for granted. Whether shopping in a supermarket or a convenience store the shelves can be designed very differently, but ultimately with the same purpose – to display products.  Depending on the products or goods being stocked the shelves have to adapt to three main criteria. The first is the products weight and the shelves ability to display it safely. The second is the shelves adjustability, so it can move depending on the products size. Thirdly is the material it’s constructed from. For example if it was displaying icy or wet products it should be water proof. The material a shelf is developed from is the key to all the criteria being met. Here is a look then at the most common shelving materials used today.

Shop Shelving Made from Wood

Wood has been a main staple of shop shelving manufacture dating back to a time even before the RomanEmpire. Originally used for constructing market stalls and shelves in temples and places of worship, wood quickly established itself as a malleable shelving material. Another benefit of wood is its low cost to produce, especially in times of old where trees were in abundance. Wood has very high strength tolerances, especially when made into a ply type construction. The only issues with using wood for shop shelving are that unless it’s static the shelves can ware quickly and splinter around the edges. Also Placing then in wet environments can lead to the wood splitting or swelling, again making them less than ideal.

Shop Shelving Made from Metal

As time has moves on metals and their uses are becoming more common. However in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t until the last hundred years or so that we started to see metal shop shelving appears in stores. The production of metal in the past has traditionally been quite expensive, but with advances in technology and manufacture metal shelving has become widely available. The advantages to metal shop shelving are numerous and include consistent strength, the option to be used and re-used and ability to withstand wet conditions.

Although other materials can be used in the manufacture of shelving, wood and metal are the most common. The next time your out shopping though, why not look at the type of shop shelving being used to see if you can spot other materials.