A shop office is basically self-explanatory. It is a row of buildings in which separate shop offices are linked together. It is different from office buildings or shop houses. However it is the same design as the shop house. The only difference is a shop house is not used fully while a shop office is used fully for commercial use.

In the early twentieth century, this style of building was common in the cities closer to commercial districts like Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. Shop Offices often used for larger businesses where large companies needed a large amount of space.