Store Configuration

These settings live in your Shopify admin rather than the theme, but the theme reads from them. Configure them before you start building pages.

Why this comes first

Several sections render nothing until the store data behind them exists. Setting this up first saves chasing settings that only appear to be broken.

What the theme reads from your admin

Admin area	Used by
Content → Menus	Header navigation, footer menu blocks, Custom footer menu columns.
Settings → Customer accounts	Account icon in the header and the seven account templates.
Settings → Markets / Languages	Country and language selectors in the header, announcement bar and footer.
Search & Discovery app	Collection filters, related products, complementary products and cart recommendations.
Product reviews app	Star ratings on the product page and the sticky add-to-cart bar.
Settings → Payments	Payment icons in the footer.
Settings → Policies	Policy links in the footer.

Menus

Build your navigation under Content → Menus before configuring the header. The header uses main-menu by default. See Navigation & Menus.

Customer accounts

Settings → Customer accounts. The header shows an account icon (with an optional customer avatar) when accounts are enabled. Leave accounts off if you do not use them — the icon is hidden automatically.

Markets and languages

Settings → Markets and Settings → Languages. The country and language selectors only appear when there is more than one country or published language to choose between.

The selector is not broken

A single-market, single-language store has nothing to select between, so the selector renders nothing even with its toggle switched on. This is the most common false bug report against the header and footer.

Search & Discovery

Install Shopify’s free Search & Discovery app. It supplies:

Filters on collection pages — see Collection Setup.
Related products below the product details.
Products for the Complementary products block on the product page.
Recommendations in the cart drawer — see Cart & Checkout.

Product reviews

The rating blocks read Shopify’s standard review metafields (reviews.rating and reviews.rating_count), which most review apps write. The Product rating block also reads Judge.me directly. Without a review app, switch off Use product review metafields on the block and enter a manual rating instead.

Configuration checklist

Header and footer menus created.
Customer accounts enabled or deliberately disabled.
Markets and languages set up if you sell internationally.
Search & Discovery installed, with filters configured.
A review app installed, or manual ratings planned.

Next step

Work through the Theme Setup Guide.