Shopify Store Development
Custom Shopify builds on Online Store 2.0 — without the bloated app stack.
A lot of Shopify stores don’t actually have a Shopify problem. They have an accumulation problem: a theme that started as a customized Dawn install, three years of one-off edits from whoever was available at the time, a dozen apps doing overlapping jobs, and a checkout nobody’s touched since the person who hacked checkout.liquid together left the company — right before Shopify deprecated checkout.liquid for good. None of that is unusual. It’s just what happens when a store grows faster than its codebase gets maintained.
We build and rebuild Shopify stores for merchants who’ve hit that wall: brands moving off WooCommerce or Magento, stores still running an old Vintage-era theme that can’t use app blocks, and Shopify Plus merchants who need checkout behavior their current theme was never built to deliver. Underneath, the build is always Liquid on Online Store 2.0, whether we’re starting from a paid theme, a Figma file, or your existing store’s data.
Built on Online Store 2.0, not around it
Online Store 2.0 means every page — not just the homepage — is built from sections and blocks your team can rearrange from the theme editor without touching code. We write custom sections for the layouts a stock theme doesn’t ship with — comparison tables, ingredient breakdowns, size and fit guides, bundle builders — and back them with Metaobjects when the content is structured and reused: a shade guide referenced across fifty product pages, a set of brand-story blocks, fitment data for a parts catalog. That’s cheaper to maintain than the CMS-app-plus-API-call route agencies default to, and it turns a content edit into a theme-editor task instead of a developer ticket.
Plus, when the checkout actually justifies it
Shopify Plus earns its license cost when you need something standard Shopify’s checkout can’t do: custom checkout UI through Checkout Extensibility, post-purchase upsell offers, Shopify Functions for discount or shipping logic your business rules actually require, or the API and Launchpad headroom for high-volume sale events. If none of that applies, Plus is mostly a more expensive way to get a slightly higher API rate limit, and we’ll say so in the audit rather than recommend the upgrade. It’s also worth knowing that checkout.liquid editing is gone for every plan now — any checkout customization goes through UI extensions and the Checkout branding API, so leaning on the old script-tag workarounds just delays the same rebuild.
Headless, when it earns its complexity
Hydrogen on Oxygen is the right call when a brand needs interaction Liquid genuinely can’t deliver — a highly custom product configurator, one backend serving multiple storefronts across brands or regions, or a marketing experience that has to move faster than theme releases allow. It also means React, GraphQL, and a hosting layer to maintain going forward — real ongoing cost, not a one-time fee. Most catalog-driven stores don’t need it. A well-built Online Store 2.0 theme gets the same design outcome without that maintenance surface, and we would rather say so in discovery than bill for a rebuild you won’t want to maintain.
Performance is part of the build, not a fix after
App bloat is the most common reason Shopify stores fail Core Web Vitals — every page-builder app like PageFly or Shogun, every review widget, every upsell popup adds its own render-blocking script. We audit what’s installed against what’s actually used, replace what a native section or Metaobject can now do directly, and keep third-party JavaScript to what’s earning its place, usually an email platform like Klaviyo, one review app, and analytics. Image formatting, lazy loading, and font loading get the same scrutiny. We check against Lighthouse and real device timing, not a one-time PageSpeed screenshot.
How we work
We start with an audit of the current theme, app stack, and — for a migration — the source platform’s data: products, customers, order history, and existing URLs, which we map to redirects so search rankings don’t reset on launch day. The build happens on a development theme against a staging domain while the live store keeps taking orders. QA covers the checkout flow, mobile rendering, and whichever app integrations survived the audit. Launch includes a walkthrough of the sections and Metaobjects we built, so your team can edit copy and add pages without a ticket afterward.
This is the right service if you need a theme built on sections and blocks your team can actually run day to day, a Plus checkout customization, or a clean migration off another platform. It’s not the right fit if your current theme already works fine and you’re just tired of one slow app — sometimes the honest answer in the audit is to fix the one thing, not rebuild the store around it.
What this is meant to achieve
The measures we hold the work to, agreed with you before the build starts.
Faster page loads and better Core Web Vitals scores once redundant apps are gone
A checkout your team can customize without relying on deprecated checkout.liquid workarounds
A content model your team can extend with new pages and sections without a dev ticket
A clean migration off the old platform with order history and SEO redirects intact
Fewer monthly app subscriptions once native sections and Metaobjects take over what apps were doing
A theme codebase your next developer can actually read, not just the one who built it
Questions people ask before signing
Straight answers on pricing, code ownership, timelines and what happens after launch.
Only if you need something standard Shopify’s checkout can’t do — Checkout Extensibility for custom checkout UI, Shopify Functions for custom discount or shipping logic, or the higher API and Launchpad limits for high-volume sale events. If none of that applies to you, Plus is mostly a more expensive way to get a slightly higher rate limit, and we’ll say so in the audit rather than recommend the upgrade.
Sections and blocks work on every page, not just the homepage, and app blocks can be added anywhere without a developer wiring them in manually. If your store is still on a Vintage-era theme, most of what feels rigid about editing it comes from that gap, not from Shopify itself.
Usually not, and we’ll tell you that directly. Hydrogen earns its complexity when you need interaction Liquid can’t deliver, or one backend serving multiple storefronts. For most catalog-driven stores, a well-built Online Store 2.0 theme gets the same design outcome without taking on React, GraphQL, and Oxygen hosting as ongoing maintenance.
That’s the point of the redirect mapping — every existing product, collection, and blog URL gets mapped to its new Shopify equivalent before launch, and we migrate order and customer history so support and reporting don’t have a gap on the switchover date.
We audit it either way. Some apps are doing a job native sections or Metaobjects can now handle directly, which we’ll flag as both a cost and a performance win. Apps that are genuinely earning their subscription — an email platform, a review tool, a 3PL integration — stay exactly as they are.
No. Part of the handoff is a walkthrough of the sections and Metaobjects we built, specifically so your team can add pages, swap images, and edit copy without a developer. We’re around for changes that genuinely need code — new sections, checkout logic, app integrations — not routine content updates.
Ready to talk about Shopify Store Development?
Tell us what you need built. You will get a written proposal with scope, timeline and price before any work begins.