How to remove a physical location from an online store?

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

Topic: Removing an accidentally added physical location in a Shopify store to sell online only.

Guidance offered:

  • Delete the physical location: Admin > Settings > Locations > select location > Delete location.
  • Disable in-person pickup: Admin > Settings > Shipping and delivery > Local pickup > disable.
  • Update products that offer local pickup or local delivery to remove those options.

Complication raised:

  • Deletion blocked when the physical location is set as the “default” location. The system requires changing the default location first, but users reported they cannot set “online apps/stores” as the default.

Clarification/correction:

  • A physical location that is the default cannot be deactivated or deleted unless another location is set as the default first (i.e., you must have a second location to switch the default to before deletion).

Key terms:

  • Default location: the primary fulfillment location Shopify uses for inventory and order routing; it cannot be deleted.

Status/outcome:

  • No confirmed resolution for cases with only one (default) location or for setting an “online app” as default. Discussion remains open with unanswered steps on how to change the default in that scenario.
Summarized with AI on January 17. AI used: gpt-5.
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I accidentally added a physical location to my online store, how do I switch to only selling online so it doesn’t show up when ppl buy something etc.

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Hey, @HiddenFlower .

Thank you for reaching out!

If you accidentally added a physical location to your online store and you want to switch to only selling online, you can remove the location from your store settings. Here’s how:

  1. Log in to your Shopify admin panel.
  2. Click on “Settings” and then “Locations”.
  3. Click on the physical location you want to remove.
  4. Click on “Delete location” at the bottom of the page.
  5. Confirm that you want to delete the location.

Once you have deleted the physical location, it will no longer be visible to customers when they purchase items from your store. Your store will be set up to sell online only.

It’s worth noting that if you have any products that are set up for in-store pickup or local delivery, you will need to update those settings to remove the physical location as an option. You can do this by going to the product page and editing the “Shipping” section to remove any in-store pickup or local delivery options.

Please let me know if you have any further questions! I would love to learn more about your business. What type of products do you sell?

Talk soon,

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  1. Remove the physical location:

    • From your Shopify admin, go to “Settings” and then click on “Locations”.
    • Locate the physical location you added and click on the location name.
    • On the location details page, click on the “Delete location” button to remove the physical location from your store.

  2. Disable in-person pickup:

    • In your Shopify admin, go to “Settings” and click on “Shipping and delivery”.
    • Under the “Local pickup” section, uncheck the box that says “Enable local pickup” to disable in-person pickup as a shipping option.
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I have the same issue, but it will not let me delete the location because it shows as “default” and it will not allow me to change my default location to either of the online apps (stores) I have. It says I have to change my default location first…

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This is incorrect information. You can not deactivate or delete the physical store location unless you have a second location selected as default.

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