Folders for WP Store Locator
A store locator grows with the business: new branches, dealers, stores that move or close for a while. After a few years All Stores is a list of hundreds.
Plathix PRO adds private folders to that list. Group stores by region, dealer or sales territory and open just the folder you need. The map, the store search and your store categories stay as they are.
Seven hundred stores, one list
WP Store Locator keeps every location in the All Stores list. Search finds a store by its name or by its address, city or zip code, and the columns sort by city and state.
A search is a one-time question. The list does not keep your own groups: one dealer’s stores, one sales rep’s territory, the stores that open next month.
Store categories are not the place for that. They can show as a filter in the store search on your site, so a category called “Rep: North” would be visible to visitors.
Hundreds of stores, and the list keeps changing
People who manage store locators talk about lists that never sit still: new stores every week, big imports, shops that close for a season.
More than 1,000 stores. Just typing them in takes two weeks.
We have many hundreds of stores. We search for each one before adding it, and still find duplicates later.
We imported 3,438 stores, and the list shows 3,790. Some came in twice.
A summer shop goes to draft, not to the trash, so we can use it again next year.
Folders do not find duplicates or change the map. They give each import, season and region its own place next to All Stores, so a check starts from one folder.
Folders for the way you manage locations
By country or region
Open one region and work on its stores only, with countries inside it.
By dealer or franchisee
Partners who run several stores get one folder each. When a dealer sends new opening hours, all their stores are on one screen.
By sales territory
Each rep gets a folder for the stores they look after, without a store category that visitors could see.
Openings and closures
Keep stores that open next month, or that are closed for renovation, in their own folder so nobody forgets them.
Seasonal stores
Shops that open only in summer or winter can wait as drafts between seasons. Keep them in a Seasonal folder, so next year they are easy to find.
The folder panel next to All Stores
A folder tree next to the list
The panel sits beside the All Stores list. Click a folder and the list shows only its stores.
Search inside a folder
Search works inside the open folder, so you look through one region, not the whole list.
A Folder column
Every row shows its folder; click it to open that folder.
A link for each folder
The address changes when you open a folder, so a regional manager can bookmark their region.
The store map never sees your folders
| What you do | What changes | What stays as it is |
|---|---|---|
| Put a store in a folder | Its Plathix folder | The store, its address, opening hours and category |
| Rename or move a folder | The folder tree in wp-admin | The map, the store search and store pages on your site |
| Save a closed store as a draft | Its status: draft | Its folder: the store stays where you filed it |
| Trash a store, then restore it | Its Trash state | Its folder: it comes back to the same place |
| Turn Plathix PRO off | The list looks like plain WordPress | Your folders wait in the database and come back |
Folders have no URLs and never appear on the site.
How we test WP Store Locator
We run each check on a live site with Plathix PRO and the current WP Store Locator version, on the real All Stores screen.
Status Planned
Results go to Plathix Lab. Each row turns into a link once it has run.
| Check | What we verify | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Enable stores | Turn on Store Locator in Enabled Sections; the panel appears on All Stores. | Planned |
| Address search | Search for a city inside a folder. | Planned |
| Invalid coordinates | Folder filter together with the Invalid coordinates view. | Planned |
| Map unchanged | Put stores in folders: the map and the store search on the site look the same. | Planned |
| Trash and restore | A trashed store comes back to its folder. | Planned |
WP Store Locator folders FAQ
Do folders change my stores or the map?
Can I search inside a folder?
Where do new stores go?
Can a regional manager see only their region?
Is this in Plathix Free?
Related pages
Keep every location on the map. Keep every region in its own folder.
Stores in folders by region, dealer or territory. The map and the store search do not change.