This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.
A store locator is a "find us" map that lives on your website — every location, searchable and filterable, with hours and directions a tap away. The recipe is the same whether it's 8 locations or 300, one brand or a whole member directory. We'll use a made-up "Cedar & Pine Outfitters" with 14 stores across two states.
1. Start With Listings — the Part That Pays Off Forever
Create a listing for each location before touching the map. Listings are the shared profiles: when a store's hours change, you fix them once and every map, page, and experience updates. (See Listings vs. Collections: What's the Difference?)
On the Listings page, import all locations at once with Import CSV — name, address, phone, website per row. Or add them one by one with Add Item, which searches for the business and prefills its details.
Fill gaps automatically: select the new listings and click Get data to pull in hours, photos, and websites you're missing.
Give every location the same core info — name, address, phone, hours, at least one good photo. On a locator, consistency beats flair: a location with no hours is a customer who calls (or doesn't come).
2. Build the Collection and Map
Collections → New Collection → From my listings, check off every location, name it "Store Locations."
Create a map from that collection. Every store appears with its listing info already attached and synced.
Spot-check the pins. Geocoded addresses land right nearly all the time, but for stores inside malls or plazas, open the place, click Move on map, and drag the pin to the actual entrance — with Keep original place info on so the street address stays intact. Small touch, big difference for someone navigating a parking lot.
3. Add the Filters People Actually Use
Different location types? Set the Category options — Store, Outlet, Pickup Point — each with its own marker so the map reads at a glance.
Click Fields → Add a field and create a multi-select called Services: "Open late," "Drive-through," "Curbside pickup," "Wheelchair accessible." Fill it fast in Bulk Edit, then turn it on under Filters → Field filters.
Keep visitor search on — someone typing "Bend" or a store name should land instantly.
4. Make It Match Your Brand
In Branding: your exact brand colors, your logo, your font. On a locator, restraint reads as professional.
In Display → Map style, pick something clean — Minimal or Black & White make brand-colored markers pop.
For the starting view, click Fit to all places in Display → Default view so the whole footprint shows, then Set current view as default.
On Pro, flip on Hide "Built with Proxi" for a fully white-label feel. (See Designing Your Map.)
5. Tune the Place Cards
Think about the person using this: they're in a car, deciding whether to come in. In Point Card → Actions, make sure Get directions is on with driving as the default mode. Each card already shows the listing's phone, hours, and website — tap to call, tap to navigate. Turn the playful stuff (upvotes, visited, comments) off; a locator should feel effortless, not gamified.
6. Put It on Your Website
Copy the embed code from Share and paste it into your site's "Locations" page — two lines, and it sizes itself to the page automatically. Leave Zoom On Scroll When Embedded off (the default) so scrolling past the map doesn't hijack the page. (See Sharing and Embedding Your Map.)
In the editor's Sharing section, set the Page title and Description ("Find a Cedar & Pine store near you") and turn on List Publicly so the map itself can be found in search.
Want it on your own domain, like maps.yourbrand.com? Set up a custom domain under Settings → Custom Domain & Email (Pro add-on) — every link switches over automatically.
7. Keep It Fresh Without the Busywork
Let managers own their info: open each listing, add the store manager as a contact, and send the portal invite. They update their own hours, photos, and details — and it flows to the locator automatically. No more "our hours are wrong on the website" emails.
Seasonal changes across every location — holiday hours, a new service — take one sitting in the Bulk Edit spreadsheet.
New store openings: create the listing, add it to the collection, drag the pin to the entrance. It's live on your site immediately — no web developer required.
Check Analytics monthly: which locations get viewed most, and how many people tap for directions — a nice proxy for how much foot traffic the locator is driving. (See Understanding Your Map's Analytics.)
Beyond the Map: Locator Best Practices That Drive Traffic
What the UX research and local-search pros agree on:
Complete beats clever. Usability research on store finders found most failures are basic: missing hours, no phone, vague addresses. Every location needs the full set — name, street address, local phone, current hours, one-tap directions — before anything fancy.
Make it findable from every page. Link the locator from your site's header or footer with a plain label like "Find a Location" — no clever names. People shouldn't have to hunt for the thing that helps them find you.
Keep your info identical everywhere. Name, address, phone, and hours should match across your website, Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Facebook — inconsistent data hurts local search rankings, and wrong holiday hours are the fastest way to burn a customer's trip. The listing-based setup above is your single source of truth; just mirror it outward.
Point each location's Google Business Profile at your locations page (not your homepage), link the locator from email footers and social profiles, and encourage per-location reviews — each review lifts that location's visibility, which feeds traffic back to you.
Think mobile-first. On phones, a scannable list often beats a map for speed — Proxi's Show point list option gives visitors both.