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Pixel Union Theme Experts for Shopify

Pixel Union is a Vancouver theme studio that makes premium Shopify themes, including Empire, Atlantic, Tailor, Grid, Editions and Startup. Its support team will explain theme settings and fix bugs in the original code. It won’t touch customised themes, third-party apps or theme upgrades. That gap is exactly where a Pixel Union theme expert earns their fee. Merchants hire them for CSS and Liquid customisation, upgrades that carry custom code onto a new version, and getting other apps to sit properly inside one of its themes. There are 6 experts with the Pixel Union badge on shopexperts as of October 2026, 2 agencies and 4 freelancers based in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Nepal and the US. Four list Spanish on their profiles. Before you contact anyone, find your theme name and version number. Every useful conversation starts there, and a developer who doesn’t ask for them is guessing.
Pixel Union
Pixel Union

Top-rated Pixel Union themes experts

What Pixel Union theme work covers

CSS and Liquid changes. Pixel Union’s support policy is blunt: customisations using CSS, Liquid and other technical work are the developer’s responsibility. Layout changes the theme editor can’t make, new sections, product page logic. All of that is expert territory.

Upgrades that keep your edits. The studio doesn’t support theme upgrades, customised or not. Empire alone had reached version 13.0.1 by August 2026. An expert moves your edits onto the new release, tests them on a duplicate, and tells you which customisations the new version has made unnecessary.

Third-party apps inside the theme. Theme support sends app questions to the app developer. An expert who knows the theme’s sections can place a reviews widget or upsell block properly, so you aren’t left bouncing between two support desks.

Preset changes on a customised store. The themes ship with several presets. Empire has four: Empire, Circuit, Depot and Forma. On an untouched store, changing the look is quick. On a customised one, ask a developer how your edits carry over before you switch.

Reviewing AI-generated blocks. The support policy now lists AI-generated theme blocks alongside apps and template edits as customisations it won’t troubleshoot. If your team has been generating blocks, have someone check them, because a problem they cause is one the studio’s support won’t look at.

New store setup. Five of the six experts here also list store setup and management, so a fresh Empire or Tailor build, configured properly before launch, is a sensible first project to ask about.

How to choose a Pixel Union expert

Ask which Pixel Union themes they’ve shipped. Empire, Atlantic and Tailor are separate themes with their own code. Ask for a live store on your theme, ideally a recent version, and ask what they changed on it.

Ask how they keep edits upgrade-friendly. The answer you want: changes kept in their own snippets and sections, documented, with a list of every core file touched. Each edit buried in a core file slows the next upgrade, and vendor support won’t help with that upgrade.

Ask about the updater. The studio points customers to an updater app for update notifications, theme registration, a diff checker and language-file transfer, with some of that on a PRO tier. A developer who uses the diff view can show you exactly what changed between your copy and the new release.

Watch for red flags. Editing the live theme instead of a duplicate. Quoting an upgrade without asking your version. Promising that the theme’s own support will cover their work afterwards. It won’t, because support excludes customised themes.

Start with a small paid task. Give a new developer one contained job first, such as a section change or an app block placement on a duplicate theme. You’ll see how they test, document and communicate before you hand over an upgrade. For typical scopes, see our guide to Shopify theme customisation cost.

Support limits and version rules to check first

What support covers. Guidance on theme features and settings, compatibility on a standard install, and bugs in the original theme. The team aims to reply within 24 hours and asks you to allow 1–3 business days. For a settings question, start there.

What it doesn’t. Errors caused by customisations, whether from third-party plugins, apps, template edits or AI-generated theme blocks. Installing, configuring or troubleshooting third-party apps. Theme upgrades, customised or not. Once your theme has any of those, problems in that area are a developer’s job.

Version floors. Support only applies from certain versions: Empire 6.0.0+, Atlantic 15.0.0+, Grid 5.0.0+, Startup 11.0.0+, Editions 11.0.0+, and every version of Tailor. Below the floor, an experienced expert prices the upgrade before any other work, because the studio’s support won’t help on that version until it’s done.

Older themes. Pacific (5.0.0+) and Launch (7.0.0+) are still on the supported-versions list but don’t appear on the studio’s current Theme Store designer page. If your store runs one of them, ask an expert what a move to a current theme from the studio would involve before you spend more on customising it.

Check who actually made your theme. Pixel Union’s website links to sister theme studios in the same group. Their themes are made by those studios, so the support policy and version rules above don’t apply to them. Confirm who made your theme before you brief anyone.

Typical Pixel Union Shopify projects

Five of the 6 list Shopify development and five list store setup and management, which makes this a build-and-fix group. The theme jobs they’re suited to:

Liquid and CSS customisation

New sections and layout changes beyond the theme editor

Version upgrades

Custom code moved onto the latest Empire, Atlantic or Tailor release

App placement

Third-party blocks rendering properly inside the theme

Preset switches

A new look, such as Empire to Depot, on an already customised build

AI block review

Generated theme blocks checked before they cause support issues

New store setup

A fresh Empire, Tailor or Grid install configured for launch

Questions about Pixel Union themes and support

Will Pixel Union support fix my customised theme?

Not the customised parts. The support policy excludes errors from customisations, including template edits, apps and AI-generated theme blocks. If the bug sits in the original theme code on a supported version, support will help. If you can’t tell which it is, a developer can compare your copy with a clean install of the same version and show you where the difference lies.

Does Pixel Union do theme customisation itself?

No. The studio says customisations using CSS, Liquid and other technical work are the developer’s responsibility, and it refers customisation work to outside Shopify experts rather than doing it in-house. Its support team still answers questions about settings and features, so use it for those and hire for anything that changes code.

Can I upgrade my Pixel Union theme without losing my changes?

Usually, if the changes were made cleanly. The studio doesn’t support upgrades, so this is developer work. The updater app it recommends handles update notifications and offers a diff checker and language-file transfer, some of it on a PRO tier. Someone still has to merge code edits by hand wherever the new version changed the same files.

Which Pixel Union themes are on the Theme Store now?

Its Theme Store designer page lists Empire, Atlantic, Tailor, Grid, Editions and Startup. Pacific and Launch still appear on its supported-versions list but not on that page. If you run one of those two, get an expert’s view on moving to a current theme before you pay for more customisation.

Are Depot, Circuit and Forma separate themes?

No. They’re presets of Empire, alongside the Empire preset itself, and they change the starting look rather than the theme underneath. Pick the one closest to your catalogue and brand, then customise. If your Empire copy already carries custom code, ask a developer how those edits carry over before you change preset.

How quickly does theme support reply?

The support team aims to reply within 24 hours and asks customers to allow 1–3 business days. That’s fine for a settings question. If a product page breaks the week of a sale, and the theme is customised, support may not cover the problem at all. Brief a developer at the same time rather than waiting.

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