Ultimate Guide to Commercial Storefront Door Locks

Storefront door pulls and door locks can come in many types. With that comes the inevitable terror of navigating fire codes, aesthetics, and functionality. Luckily though, you’re not alone. Use this guide to commercial storefront door locks as the starting point for your hardware journey when considering a new commercial door installation or any storefront door repair project. Because how do you know what you want if you don’t know what’s out there?

Today, we’ll be grouping the best hardware and software for storefront doors selected by our national team organized by Storefront Entry Devices, Storefront Exit Hardware, and Storefront Locking Hardware.

Storefront doors are made of hollow aluminum frames with cavities on the inside between the edges and the glass to allow room for wires and hardware. Because of this, mortise devices—or hardware installed inside a door—are an extremely popular choice.

Mortise devices are safe, sturdy, and have been an industry favorite for years. For storefront doors, you’re likely to encounter three different types: hookbolts, deadlatches, and deadlocks.

The hookbolts’ namesake comes from the hook on, well, the bolt. They’re used predominantly for sliding storefront doors for that reason but are also popular for mechanical applications.

Deadlatches are extremely common to see on storefront doors. They typically work in tandem with a push paddle on the interior of the building. When a customer depresses the push paddle, a deadlatch retracts from the frame and allows the customer to leave freely.

Deadlocks are your traditional locking hardware with the same classic layout as most doors you’re familiar with. They’re usually used for high-use doors that need to remain locked from the outside while allowing those inside to leave without using a key.

Most mortise hardware accepts mortise cylinders to actuate the hardware. Not all are created equal in the world of mortise cylinders, though. Be sure to check out Primus and Medeco cylinders, which, apart from being nigh impossible to pick, are some of the most durable cylinders on the market.

Keyless door locks have hundreds of companies manufacturing them and the thousands of access control variations on the market—there isn’t much that won’t work on a storefront door.

That’s the beauty of storefront doors; they’re built to fit most anything. Still, there are security systems out there uniquely suited to the task.

Here’s one of our favorite keyless door locks:

We love Salto. They have a mortise lock hardware that fits within the usual profile as a mechanical lock useful for storefront doors. They also have solutions built for herculite doors—which are essentially full-glass doors. Salto has a vast array of products and easy installation from a programming standpoint, so there are fewer labor hours involved with Salto than most other systems.

Salto also has standalone solutions for sensitive-area doors that are well out of the way of other software, making it fantastic for multi-door situations.

This is the first thing a customer is going to see when they get to the door of your business, so make a good impression if you can. Just like everything else in this guide to commercial storefront door locks, entry hardware comes in a multitude of shapes and sizes.

This is taken to a new level for entry hardware, though. From custom pull handles to traditional levers, here are your options for the first thing the customer touches.

Pull handles are without a doubt the most popular entry method for storefront doors. From custom-made pull handles which greet the customer with a taste of what they’ll find inside to simple aluminum pulls that blend into the surrounding metal, pull handles make a fantastic way to enter a site.

Best of all, pull handles are typically surface mounted near the mortise cylinder (where you put your key), so they very rarely don’t work on a particular storefront. Pull handles are a safe and familiar option.

Leversets can be used for storefront doors as well. They’re a bit of an unorthodox pick, but they can be used. Typically, leversets are used as part of a larger offline door entry system. They can be difficult to open for some customers, so they’re most often used on interior doors.

For an exterior door, you’ll want to use a leverset with a classroom lock function. A classroom lockset function on an exterior door may sound odd, but it’s not. Wouldn’t I use a storeroom lockset function? No, because a storeroom function is always locked, and you need a key to unlock it each time. However, the classroom lockset function allows a facility manager or store manager to unlock the door with a key and leave it unlocked. Then, after business hours, the key is used to lock the door so that it will be secured overnight.

Click the link to read our blog post about the five lockset functions.

Automatic door operators are an inexpensive way to give your business an inviting atmosphere before the moment they step through your door. Automatic doors can either swing or slide open and operate with a motion sensor mounted to the interior and exterior of the building. We install and service automatic doors all across the country, so if you need some help picking out the right one for your business, just let us know.

The bottom line is there’s a lot you can install on a storefront door, but they’re not all created equal. Ultimately, your door is the first thing your customer is going to see. Whether you want to invite them in with automatic doors, make locking and unlocking easy with an access control system, or go a classic mechanical route, The Flying Locksmiths can supply and install doors and hardware. From business door repair to commercial door installation, we can help you. Plus, we’re local and service nationally.