Retail automatic doors have a job most entrances do not: they have to pull people in. Timberland’s store at Eastgate needed an entrance that matched the brand while drawing shoppers off a busy mall thoroughfare, hands-free.
Client: Timberland | Location: Eastgate, Johannesburg | Sector: Retail | Scope: Automatic doors & aluminium shopfront
The solution
We supplied and installed automatic sliding doors and an aluminium shopfront finished to suit the store’s branding – an inviting, open entrance that keeps the store’s climate controlled and running costs down.
Why retail automatic doors earn their keep
An open, automatic entrance reads as an invitation in a way a closed manual door does not. Shoppers walking a mall thoroughfare make the decision to enter in a moment, and anything that adds friction – a handle, a heavy leaf, a narrow opening – costs footfall.
The same door also has to hold the store’s conditioned air in. Automatic operation resolves what would otherwise be a trade-off between an inviting open front and a sensible energy bill.
Finishing to a brand standard
The shopfront is what carries the brand. Powder-coated aluminium can be finished to match a retailer’s specification, and the sightlines can be kept slim where the brand wants glass to dominate, or framed more boldly where visibility from the walkway matters.
Safety, sensors and compliance
Any automatic entrance runs unattended, so the safety devices matter as much as the operator itself. Presence and motion sensors hold the door open while somebody is still in the opening, safety beams guard the closing edge, and hold-open time and closing speed are set on commissioning to suit the traffic. Glazing in and around a door is a recognised human-impact position, so the glass specification should be confirmed against the applicable South African standards – see the South African Bureau of Standards, or our glazing compliance centre for a plain-English summary.
Keeping retail automatic doors running
An entrance that opens hundreds of times a day is a mechanical system and needs to be treated like one. Sensors drift out of alignment, floor tracks collect grit, and operators need periodic adjustment. We install these systems and can keep them serviced afterwards, which is what keeps a busy entrance reliable rather than becoming the thing everyone complains about.
Why it works
- Fast, hands-free entry for high mall footfall
- Shopfront finished to match the retailer’s brand
- Air-conditioning kept in, energy costs down
- Robust operator for continuous daily trading
Opening or refitting a store?
If you are specifying retail automatic doors for a store or refit, we can work to the centre’s fit-out requirements and your brand standard. See our custom shopfront work or browse other completed projects.
How the safety side actually works
Two sensor types work together on Timberland, Eastgate — Retail shopfront & automatic doors: motion detection to open on approach, and presence detection to hold the door while somebody stands in the opening. Add safety beams and a force limit and the door reverses rather than pushing. Most call-outs we attend are sensors knocked out of alignment by a trolley or a delivery, not motors that have failed.
We walk the opening with a trolley and at normal walking pace before handover, then record the speed, hold-open and force settings.
Servicing, spares and call-outs
We recommend a professional service every six months, with more frequent visits for very busy entrances such as malls. A visit checks and realigns the sensors, inspects the belt, rollers and guides, re-checks opening and closing force, and replaces wear parts before they strand the door. Wear items are replaced as part of servicing rather than under warranty.
We stock the operators, sensors, drive belts and control boards we fit, so a repair does not wait on an imported part. Automatic doors are installed and serviced nationwide, with call-outs within 24 hours in Gauteng.
How Timberland, Eastgate — Retail shopfront & automatic doors is priced
Four things move the number: how wide the opening is, what glass it carries, how many sensors the layout needs, and whether access control is included. That is why we confirm the opening, the power supply and the traffic flow at a free site measure and then quote a fixed price. Standard glazing is 6.38 mm laminated safety glass, powder-coated framing to match the frontage.
What lifespan should I expect?
Cycles matter more than years. The MC-125 is tested to one million operating cycles; how long that lasts depends on the traffic the doorway carries and whether it is serviced on interval.
What service interval do you recommend?
Every six months as standard. Very busy entrances may need more frequent visits, which we agree with you per site.
Glass, frames and finishes
Standard glazing is 6.38 mm clear laminated safety glass, which holds together if it is ever broken and takes the edge off outside noise. Tinted and performance glass are available, quoted separately, where solar gain or privacy matters, and toughened glass suits frameless and low-level applications. The framing is powder-coated in the colour that suits the building, so an entrance reads as part of the frontage rather than something bolted on afterwards.
Retrofit or new installation
Automating an opening that already exists is usually possible, and it is often the cheaper route. The questions are whether the head can carry an operator, whether the opening is square enough to run true, and whether power can reach the header. Where a hinged door is staying, a swing operator automates it; where the frontage is being replaced anyway, a new sliding installation is generally the better long-term answer.
Reading the symptoms
Most faults on Timberland, Eastgate — Retail shopfront & automatic doors are diagnosable before anybody arrives. A door held permanently open is usually a sensor fault or something moving in its detection zone. A door that reverses halfway is reacting to an obstruction or a tight force setting. Noise from the track points to rollers or guides. Telling us the symptom on the phone means the right part is on the van.
How quickly can a fault be attended?
Gauteng call-outs are attended within 24 hours, and service runs nationwide. Telling us the symptom when you call means the right spare travels with the technician.
Can the door be set to stay open at busy times?
Yes. Hold-open time is adjustable, and many sites run a longer setting during deliveries or peak trading and a shorter one the rest of the day.
Retail automatic doors in short
If you are pricing retail automatic doors, send the structural opening sizes and a photograph and we will specify the system, the sensors and the glass against the traffic the doorway really carries. Retail automatic doors are supplied, installed and serviced by one team, with spares held locally.
Ask us about retail automatic doors and we will confirm the opening, the power supply and the traffic flow before quoting a fixed price.
Retail automatic doors at a glance
- Pricing for retail automatic doors follows the opening width, the glass and the sensor layout.
- Ask us to confirm the opening before ordering retail automatic doors.
- Every enquiry about retail automatic doors gets a written specification, not a verbal estimate.
How a retail automatic doors installation actually runs
Every entrance starts with a site survey rather than a catalogue number. We measure the structural opening, check what the floor and lintel will carry, look at how people actually approach the doorway, and confirm the power supply position. Only then does the operator get specified, because the same opening can need a different unit depending on traffic, exposure and how wide the clear opening has to be.
The frame and glazing are then manufactured to the confirmed sizes, delivered, and installed. Commissioning is the step that gets skipped most often elsewhere and matters most: opening speed, closing speed, hold-open time and sensor coverage are all set on site, with the door running, against the real approach path rather than a default profile. It is the step that separates retail automatic doors that feel effortless from ones everybody in the building complains about.
What we need to know to quote
Most of the quoting delay on retail automatic doors comes from missing information rather than complexity. If you can give us these up front, we can usually come back quickly:
- The structural opening width and height, measured rather than estimated
- Roughly how many people pass through on a busy day
- Whether the opening is internal, or exposed to weather and wind
- Any landlord, centre-management or fit-out specification that applies
- Whether an existing frame is being replaced or it is a new opening
If you are not sure on any of it, a site visit sorts it out faster than a drawing exchange – and it avoids the most expensive mistake in this trade, which is an operator specified for the wrong duty and replaced a year later. Specified properly at the start, retail automatic doors should run for years with nothing more than servicing.
