Difference Between
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Shop vs. Store: Know the Difference

Shumaila Saeed
By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 25, 2023
Shop refers to a small retail establishment; Store is a larger place of business for selling goods.
Shop vs. Store

Key Differences

A shop is typically a small, specialized place selling specific types of goods. A store is generally larger, offering a broader range of products, often including both specialized and general items.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023
In usage, shop often implies a more personal, intimate buying experience. In contrast, a store suggests a more extensive, possibly impersonal shopping environment with a wider selection.
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Dec 01, 2023
The term shop is used more commonly in British English, while store is more prevalent in American English. However, both terms are understood globally and often used interchangeably.
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Dec 01, 2023
In digital contexts, shop can refer to a small online retail outlet, whereas store may denote a larger, more comprehensive online marketplace.
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Dec 01, 2023
Shop can also be a verb meaning to visit places where goods are sold, while store as a verb means to put away or stock items for future use.
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Dec 01, 2023
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Comparison Chart

Size and Scope

Smaller, specialized
Larger, more varied products
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Dec 01, 2023

Shopping Experience

Personal, intimate
Broad, extensive selection
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Dec 01, 2023

Regional Usage

Common in British English
More common in American English
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Dec 01, 2023

Online Context

Small online retail outlet
Larger online marketplace
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Dec 01, 2023

Verb Form

Means visiting places to buy goods
Means to put away or stock items
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Dec 01, 2023
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Shop and Store Definitions

Shop

A small retail establishment.
She visited a local flower shop for a bouquet.
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Dec 01, 2023

Store

A large retail establishment selling a variety of goods.
She shopped for groceries at the new superstore.
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Dec 01, 2023

Shop

A place for manufacturing or repairing goods.
He works in an auto repair shop.
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Dec 01, 2023

Store

A stock or supply of something.
They had a store of canned food for emergencies.
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Dec 01, 2023

Shop

An artist's workroom.
The painter spent her days in her art shop.
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Dec 01, 2023
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Store

A place for selling specific types of products.
She went to the furniture store for a new couch.
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Dec 01, 2023

Shop

Also shoppe A small retail store or a specialty department in a large store.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A place where merchandise is offered for sale; a shop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

An atelier; a studio.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A stock or supply reserved for future use
A squirrel's store of acorns.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A place for manufacturing or repairing goods or machinery.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Stores Supplies, especially of food, clothing, or arms.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A commercial or industrial establishment
A printing shop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A place where commodities are kept; a warehouse or storehouse.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A business establishment; an office or a center of activity.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A great quantity or number; an abundance.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A home workshop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To reserve or put away for future use.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A schoolroom fitted with machinery and tools for instruction in industrial arts.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To fill, supply, or stock.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

The industrial arts as a technical science or course of study.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To deposit or receive in a storehouse or warehouse for safekeeping.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To visit stores in search of merchandise or bargains.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

(Computers) To copy (data) into memory or onto a storage device, such as a hard disk.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To look for something with the intention of acquiring it.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A place where items may be accumulated or routinely kept.
This building used to be a store for old tires.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To visit or buy from (a particular store).
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A supply held in storage.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

An establishment that sells goods or services to the public; originally only a physical location, but now a virtual establishment as well.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

(mainly North American) A place where items may be purchased; a shop.
I need to get some milk from the grocery store.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A place where things are manufactured or crafted; a workshop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Memory.
The main store of 1000 36-bit words seemed large at the time.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A large garage where vehicle mechanics work.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A great quantity or number; abundance.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Workplace; office. Used mainly in expressions such as shop talk, closed shop and shop floor.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A head of store cattle (feeder cattle to be sold to others for finishing); a store cattle beast.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Discussion of business or professional affairs.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

(transitive) To keep (something) while not in use, generally in a place meant for that purpose.
I'll store these books in the attic.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A variety of classes taught in junior or senior high school that teach vocational skill.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Contain.
The cabinets store all the food the mice would like.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

An establishment where a barber or beautician works.
A barber shop
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Have the capacity and capability to contain.
They sell boxes that store 24 mason jars.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

An act of shopping, especially routine shopping for food and other domestic supplies.
This is where I do my weekly shop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To write (something) into memory or registers.
This operation stores the result on the stack.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

(intransitive) To visit stores or shops to browse or explore merchandise, especially with the intention of buying such merchandise.
I went shopping early before the Christmas rush.
He’s shopping for clothes.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

That which is accumulated, or massed together; a source from which supplies may be drawn; hence, an abundance; a great quantity, or a great number.
The ships are fraught with store of victuals.
With store of ladies, whose bright eyesRain influence, and give the prize.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

(transitive) To purchase products from (a range or catalogue, etc.).
Shop our new arrivals.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A place of deposit for goods, esp. for large quantities; a storehouse; a warehouse; a magazine.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To report the criminal activities or whereabouts of someone to an authority.
He shopped his mates in to the police.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Any place where goods are sold, whether by wholesale or retail; a shop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To imprison.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Articles, especially of food, accumulated for some specific object; supplies, as of provisions, arms, ammunition, and the like; as, the stores of an army, of a ship, of a family.
His swine, his horse, his stoor, and his poultry.
In his needy shop a tortoise hung,An alligator stuffed, and other skinsOf ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelvesA beggarly account of empty boxes.
Sulphurous and nitrous foam, . . . Concocted and adjusted, they reducedTo blackest grain, and into store conveyed.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To photoshop; to digitally edit a picture or photograph.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Accumulated; hoarded.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

(dated) Used to attract the services of a shop assistant
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To collect as a reserved supply; to accumulate; to lay away.
Dora stored what little she could save.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A building or an apartment in which goods, wares, drugs, etc., are sold by retail.
From shop to shopWandering, and littering with unfolded silksThe polished counter.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To furnish; to supply; to replenish; esp., to stock or furnish against a future time.
Her mind with thousand virtues stored.
Wise Plato said the world with men was stored.
Having stored a pond of four acres with carps, tench, and other fish.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A building in which mechanics or artisans work; as, a shoe shop; a car shop.
A tailor called me in his shop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

To deposit in a store, warehouse, or other building, for preservation; to warehouse; as, to store goods.
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A person's occupation, business, profession, or the like, as a subject of attention, interest, conversation, etc.; - sometimes in deprecation or disapproval; as, to talk shop at a party. Also used attributively, as in shop talk.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A mercantile establishment for the retail sale of goods or services;
He bought it at a shop on Cape Cod
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A place where any industry is carried on; as, a chemist's shop;
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A supply of something available for future use;
He brought back a large store of Cuban cigars
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Any place of resort, as one's house, a restaurant, etc.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

An electronic memory device;
A memory and the CPU form the central part of a computer to which peripherals are attached
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

The group of workers and the activities controlled by an administrator; as, to have five people in one's shop.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A depository for goods;
Storehouses were built close to the docks
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

To visit shops for the purpose of purchasing goods.
He was engaged with his mother and some ladies to go shopping.
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

Keep or lay aside for future use;
Store grain for the winter
The bear stores fat for the period of hibernation when he doesn't eat
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

A mercantile establishment for the retail sale of goods or services;
He bought it at a shop on Cape Cod
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Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023

Store

Find a place for and put away for storage;
Where should we stow the vegetables?
I couldn't store all the books in the attic so I sold some
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Small workplace where handcrafts or manufacturing are done
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

A place for storing goods.
They kept their old furniture in a storage store.
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Dec 01, 2023

Shop

A course of instruction in a trade (as carpentry or electricity);
I built a birdhouse in shop
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Oct 19, 2023

Store

An online marketplace.
He downloaded apps from the digital store.
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Dec 01, 2023

Shop

Do one's shopping;
She goes shopping every Friday
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Do one's shopping at; do business with; be a customer or client of
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Shop around; not necessarily buying;
I don't need help, I'm just browsing
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

Give away information about somebody;
He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam
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Oct 19, 2023

Shop

An online retail website.
She browsed the shop online for clothes.
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Dec 01, 2023

Shop

A place offering a specific service.
They went to a coffee shop for a quick break.
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Dec 01, 2023

Repeatedly Asked Queries

Can shop be used as a verb?

Yes, shop can mean the act of buying goods.
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Dec 01, 2023

Does the term store imply a larger space?

Yes, a store usually refers to a larger retail space.
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Dec 01, 2023

Can a shop offer specialized products?

Yes, shops often focus on specific types of goods.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Do stores have to be physical spaces?

No, the term store can also refer to online marketplaces.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Is the word shop more common in the UK?

Yes, shop is more commonly used in British English.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Is a shop usually a part of a community?

Yes, shops are often seen as local community fixtures.
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Dec 01, 2023

Is a shop always smaller than a store?

Typically, yes; shops are generally smaller.
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Dec 01, 2023

Can a store sell a variety of goods?

Yes, stores often sell a wide range of products.
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Dec 01, 2023

What's the difference between a store and a boutique?

A boutique is a small store that often specializes in unique or high-end products, whereas a store can be larger and more diverse.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Can "store" also mean to keep something for future use?

Yes, "store" can be a verb meaning to keep or save something for later use, such as storing food.
Shumaila Saeed
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Can "shop" also refer to an online store?

Yes, "online shop" or "e-shop" refers to buying goods or services over the internet.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Is a store likely to offer more products than a shop?

Generally, yes; stores tend to have a broader selection.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Can a store also be a place for storage?

Yes, store can also mean a place to stock or store goods.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Do all stores have physical locations?

No, many stores operate exclusively online without physical storefronts.
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Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

What is a flagship store?

A flagship store is a company's main or most important retail location, often located in a prominent area.
Shumaila Saeed
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Can "store" also refer to a place for storing goods, like a warehouse?

Yes, "store" can also describe a location for storing and managing inventory, such as a warehouse or storage facility.
Shumaila Saeed
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 01, 2023

Are online shops smaller than online stores?

Typically, online shops are smaller and more specialized.
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Dec 01, 2023

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About Author
Shumaila Saeed
Written by
Shumaila Saeed
Shumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.

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