Once a Shopify store sells from a second shop, warehouse or 3PL, it needs more than one location. That one change touches inventory, shipping rates, checkout, Shopify POS and staff access. This guide covers the setup in the order you’d do it, using the paths in today’s Shopify admin.
We build and migrate Shopify stores through our Shopify store build service, so weigh that. Every fact below was checked against the Shopify Help Center in October 2026.
Short answer: a location is any place where you stock, sell or fulfill products. Starter allows 2 active locations, Basic, Grow and Advanced allow 10, and Shopify Plus allows 200. You add locations in Settings > Locations, then decide which one ships each order with order routing rules in Settings > Shipping and delivery. Shopify doesn’t route by distance unless you add the “Ship from closest location” rule.
What Counts as a Location
Shopify defines a location as a physical place or an app where you sell products, ship or fulfill orders, or stock inventory. That can be a retail store, a warehouse, a pop-up or a dropshipper (source).
Apps that physically stock inventory for you are treated as locations too: dropshipping apps, third-party logistics services and custom fulfillment services. They appear in Settings > Locations under “App and custom fulfillment locations”, and they don’t count toward your plan’s limit (source).
Each location keeps its own stock count for every product. What customers see online is the total across the locations that fulfill online orders.
Shopify Location Limits by Plan
As of October 2026, from Shopify’s Help Center (source):
| Shopify plan | Active locations |
|---|---|
| Starter | 2 |
| Basic | 10 |
| Grow | 10 |
| Advanced | 10 |
| Shopify Plus | 200 |
Two things don’t count toward the limit:
- Deactivated locations. You can still view, adjust and transfer their stock.
- App locations, such as 3PL and dropshipping apps.
The Locations settings page shows your limit and how many locations you’ve used.
Add a Location and Stock It
- In the Shopify admin, go to Settings > Locations and click Add location.
- Enter the name and address. Google verifies the address. An unverified address can block local delivery and shipping labels, and the closest-location routing rule skips it.
- Leave “Inventory at this location is available to fulfill online orders” on, or turn it off for a store that only sells in person or a site that only stores stock.
- Optional: turn on “List this location as a physical store” so customers can find it through the Shop channel.
- Click Save.
New locations start with a quantity of 0 for every product. Set real stock in Products > Inventory by choosing the location and editing variants, or use the bulk editor or a CSV file for large catalogs (source).
A few rules about the default location and removing locations:
- Your default location is the one shipping rates are calculated from, unless you change your shipping settings. Apps and deactivated locations can’t be the default.
- You can’t deactivate the default location. Change the default first. You always need at least one active location.
- Deleting a location means deactivating it first. Its history stays in your reports.
- A POS Pro location has to be downgraded before you can deactivate it.
Order Routing Rules: Where Fulfillment Priority Went
Older guides tell you to set fulfillment priority by dragging locations in Settings > Locations. That screen has moved. Order routing now lives in Settings > Shipping and delivery: in the Shipping section, click Order routing. There you add, edit, remove and drag rules into order (source).
If you had set fulfillment priority before, Shopify moved it into a rule called Use preferred locations, and it still works the same way.
Order routing needs two or more active locations. The default strategy includes rules to (source):
- Minimize split fulfillments, by choosing locations that can fulfill all items
- Stay within the destination market when possible
- Ship from the closest location, to reduce delivery times
Shopify runs these rules in sequence. Here is how it assigns orders by default (source):
- A location that can fill the whole order gets it.
- If no single location can, the order is split across locations, or the highest-priority location oversells.
- Distance isn’t used by default. “By default, locations aren’t prioritized based on proximity to the customer’s shipping address.” Add the Ship from closest location rule to change that.
- Closest location used alone may split orders into several packages. Shopify suggests that setup only if you’d rather ship from the nearest location even when it means more parcels.
- Ties go to the older location. Add the Use ranked locations rule to control them.
If you run a warehouse or 3PL that should ship first, add Use ranked locations, put your warehouses in the top group, and add Ship from closest location at the end to break ties.
When an order lands somewhere unexpected, check these first:
- The location has “fulfill online orders” turned off.
- Its address isn’t verified.
- It was out of stock when the order was placed.
- It isn’t in an active shipping zone for the destination.
Order routing doesn’t prevent overselling. That depends on each product’s “Continue selling when out of stock” setting.
Shipping Rates, Profiles and Multi-Origin Shipping
Multi-origin shipping means shipping from more than one location. In Shopify it runs on shipping profiles: a set of shipping rules for specific products and the locations that ship them. Every store has a general profile. You can add up to 99 custom profiles when products need different rates or ship from specific locations (source).
Use a custom profile when, for example, bulky items only ship from the warehouse, or only one store carries a product line. A location has to be in an active shipping zone that covers the destination, or routing won’t send it orders.
Shopify is gradually moving shipping profiles and rates to shipping options by market. Most stores still use profiles, and existing rates migrate automatically when a store is upgraded (same source).
Pickup in Store Across Multiple Locations
To offer pickup at several stores, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery and click Pickup in store under Additional delivery methods. Then turn it on for each location and set its processing time. At checkout, customers choose Ship or Pick up, then choose the location.
Pickup needs at least one location that fulfills online orders, and the latest version of Shopify checkout (source). In Shopify POS, handling pickup orders at the counter is a POS Pro feature (see below).
Inventory Transfers Between Locations
Transfers move stock between your locations, or to and from external locations such as suppliers. Create them in Products > Transfers. Shopify creates and tracks the shipments for you (source).
- Mark a transfer as ready to ship, in transit or transferred, at your own pace.
- Receive all of it or part of it at the destination.
- Add tracking, or split a transfer into several shipments.
- Scan barcodes to create and receive transfers.
- Fulfill and receive transfers in Shopify POS.
- Ask Sidekick to analyze stock balance across locations and draft transfers.
Transfers created by third-party apps show on the same page, and a custom report shows inventory changes from transfers by location.
Shopify POS Across Multiple Stores
Shopify POS syncs orders and inventory across your stores, online store and other sales channels. Every paid Shopify plan includes in-person selling features at no extra cost, including multi-location inventory, orders and customer management.
POS Pro is an add-on billed per location each month. You add it only at the locations that need it (source). Features that need POS Pro include:
- retail staff permissions and unlimited POS-only staff
- exchanges and order cancellations
- ship to home, pickup in store and local delivery fulfillment
- tracking and adjusting inventory, and fulfilling and receiving transfers
- daily sales reports and in-app store analytics
- automatic discounts and custom printed receipts
On Shopify Plus, “The first 20 POS Pro locations are included in all Shopify Plus plans.” Above 20 locations, if Shopify Payments is your main payment provider for retail, the POS Pro cost is waived for your first 200 retail locations (same source). For current prices, see Shopify POS pricing.
Points that catch multi-store rollouts:
- Locations you add after the POS Pro trial start on the free features. Upgrade each one in Sales channels > Point of Sale > Settings > POS Pro Subscription.
- Moving POS Pro between locations goes through Shopify Support. Canceling on one and adding on another bills both.
- Set each device’s location in the POS app, so the right tax rates apply (source).
- In-store sales take stock from that store. POS ship-to-home orders follow your order routing rules instead.
Staff Access by Location
Assigning staff to locations controls where they can log in to POS with their PIN. It doesn’t hide other stores’ stock: “Regardless of their assigned location, staff members can view product inventory for all locations within the POS app” (source).
Custom roles for POS-only staff need POS Pro.
Common Multi-Location Setup Mistakes
- Assuming Shopify ships from the nearest location. It doesn’t, until you add the Ship from closest location rule.
- Using closest location as the only rule and then wondering why orders arrive in several boxes.
- Leaving shipping rates on the default location when most orders ship from somewhere else. Set up shipping profiles for the real origins.
- Forgetting that new locations start at 0. Load stock before you turn on online fulfillment there.
- Leaving “fulfill online orders” on at a store that should only sell in person, so online orders take its stock.
- Unverified addresses. These break closest-location routing, local delivery and labels.
- Installing POS on a device without setting its location, which charges the wrong tax.
Multi-Location Rollout Checklist
- Count your locations against your plan’s limit, leaving out app and deactivated locations.
- Add each location in Settings > Locations, verify the address, and decide whether it fulfills online orders.
- Choose the default location that shipping rates are calculated from.
- Load stock for each location in Products > Inventory, or by CSV.
- Set order routing rules in Settings > Shipping and delivery > Order routing.
- Set up shipping profiles for products that ship from specific locations.
- Turn on pickup in store for the locations that offer it.
- Choose POS Pro or the free features for each store, and set each POS device’s location.
- Assign staff to locations and set their permissions.
- Place test orders that should route to each location, and check where they land.
When to Bring In Help
Adding a location takes minutes. Getting routing, shipping profiles, POS and stock levels to agree across every store takes planning. If you’re opening stores, adding a warehouse or 3PL, or moving a multi-store business onto Shopify, our Shopify store build and Shopify migration teams set it up with you.
Related Posts
- Shopify POS integration for retail stores: hardware, payments and syncing the counter with the online store
- Shopify inventory management best practices: stock levels, reorder points and audits
- Shopify shipping setup guide: zones, rates and carriers
- Shopify for high-volume stores: what changes as order volume grows
FAQ
How many locations can I have on Shopify?
Starter allows 2 active locations, Basic, Grow and Advanced allow 10, and Shopify Plus allows 200. Deactivated locations and apps such as 3PLs or dropshipping services don’t count toward the limit.
Does Shopify POS work for multiple stores?
Yes. Every paid plan includes multi-location inventory, orders and customers in POS. Features such as exchanges, pickup in store, transfers and retail staff permissions need POS Pro, which is added per location.
How does Shopify decide which location fulfills an order?
Through order routing rules in Settings > Shipping and delivery. By default, Shopify tries to fill the whole order from one location and stay within the customer’s market. If no single location can fill it, the order is split or the highest-priority location oversells.
Can Shopify ship from the closest location?
Yes, but only if you add the Ship from closest location rule. Shopify doesn’t use distance by default. The location’s address has to be verified for the rule to measure it.
How do I transfer inventory between locations?
Go to Products > Transfers, create a transfer, and mark it shipped and received as it moves. You can receive part of a transfer, add tracking, scan barcodes, and receive transfers in Shopify POS.
Can customers pick up from different store locations?
Yes. Turn on Pickup in store in Settings > Shipping and delivery for each location. At checkout, customers choose Pick up and then the store.
Do I need Shopify Plus for multiple locations?
Not for up to 10 locations: Basic, Grow and Advanced all allow 10. Plus raises the limit to 200 and includes the first 20 POS Pro locations.