Retail store openings and operations for leading consumer brands.
rekon Retail® works with direct-to-consumer and high-growth brands to manage design, buildout, hiring, systems, and training so stores open on time, on budget, and ready to operate.
50+
stores opened for DTC and emerging brands
41+
unique cities opened
50,000
square feet of retail built out
Many of the brands we work with reach us at the same moment: growth online has flattened, customer acquisition costs keep climbing, and retail is the obvious next channel, but the internal brand team lacks either bandwidth or expertise when it comes to physical retail stores. We are the partner that has both. rekon Retail® runs the entire process: site analysis, design process and buildout oversight, POS and inventory systems, hiring and training, and onsite setup for launch. You get a store that opens on time and performs, and an operations foundation that can repeat it.
We have opened stores and improved operations for emerging brands including Dossier, Little Words Project, Comfrt, Babyletto, Catbird, Kizik, MM LaFleur, FIGS, Olfactory and more.
We believe Retail Is Alive®
Our Services
The critical things every store needs to get right. We handle them all.
Strategy & Site Feasibility
Physical retail is a commitment, and we help you make it with your eyes open. Before you sign a lease, we evaluate channel strategy, site feasibility, and budget realities so you know exactly what you're committing to and why. Built for brands weighing their first store or their next market.
Design, Build Management
Store builds can go sideways in the gap between vision and execution. We own the master project schedule and represent your interests through design, construction, and vendor negotiations, protecting your budget and your timeline from concept to final punch list.
Store Systems & Ops
A beautiful store is only as successful as its systems. We build your operations playbook, design a back-of-house that supports inventory accuracy, and implement and configure Shopify POS so your team can sell from day one. This is the infrastructure most first-time retailers underestimate.
Hiring & Training
Your frontline team is the strongest brand-building tool you have. We recruit and structure your frontline organization, then build and deliver the training that turns new hires into a team fluent in your brand, product, and service standards.
Onsite Launch Leadership
The handoff from construction to opening day is where stores either land or stumble. We are on-site leading the way through launch week: brand load-in, inventory setup, vendor coordination, and final POS configuration and team training. All so your team inherits a store that's ready to sell, instead of just a punch list.
"Opening a store surfaces a hundred problems a DTC team has never had to solve from landlords, construction, load-in, POS setup and staffing. The rekon team had already solved all of them before. That's the whole value. We got to focus on the brand, and they handled the rest."
Sergio Tache CEO of Dossier
Client Profiles
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Dossier
When Dossier, the digital-native fragrance brand known for making luxury scent more accessible, set out to enter physical retail, they partnered with rekon Retail® to turn the brand into an in-store experience built for learning, testing and growth. The goal was not simply to open a store, but to validate how the brand should show up in person and create a model that could be repeated as retail expansion evolved.
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Babyletto
Rekon Retail® was engaged as the strategic partner to translate this digital success into a high-touch physical environment, successfully launching Babyletto’s first-ever flagship store on Los Angeles’ iconic Melrose Avenue in September 2024. The flagship was designed to be far more than a showroom; it was conceptualized as a "community hub" and a "sanctuary for parents".
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Sara Campbell
Sara Campbell partnered with rekon Retail to design and execute a full migration to Shopify POS, from data prep and system configuration to hardware selection and procurement, to step-by-step documented SOPs, full fleet implementation, training, and launch. The goal: a modern, unified retail stack that could scale with the brand and be implemented without putting day‑to‑day store operations at risk.
FAQ
What does rekon Retail® do?
rekon Retail® works with DTC, emerging, and high-growth brands to build their physical retail channel. We lead retail strategy and advise on site selection, manage design and construction as owner's rep, oversee hiring and training for frontline teams, create store operations and back-of-house setup, configure POS and inventory technology, and act as on-site leadership through launch week. It's a full retail department, engaged for exactly as long as a brand needs it. Learn more about rekon and meet the team.
Who does rekon Retail® work with?
We work with brands of all sizes and all stages of retail expansion, but we like to say that our “sweet spot” centers around consumer brands doing $10–100M, at the point where online growth has flattened, and physical retail is the next channel. Current and past brand clients include Dossier, Little Words Project, Comfrt, Babyletto, Catbird, Kizik, MM LaFleur, FIGS, Olfactory and more. Learn more about rekon’s services.
Why do I need a project manager? Isn’t that what the GC does?
A store opening touches multiple workstreams within a brand, including some that rarely talk to each other. A GC will care about the construction. A designer will care about design. We bring everything together with the end customer experience in mind: design, construction, operations, technology, and people ops. We own the master schedule across all of them, catching a permitting delay or a late fixture order before it becomes an opening-week surprise. For a lean team without someone whose full-time job is retail expansion, that's the difference between a launch that holds its date and one that doesn't.
What is involved in setting up store operations?
Store operations set-up is so much more than simply loading in the inventory once the GC hands over the keys. It involves building the SOPs, training guides and determining systems and tech before doors open. Rekon spends time in the critical weeks and months before customers arrive documenting inventory workflows, POS procedures, opening and closing protocols, and setting up facilities vendors. Most brands launching their first store don't have retail-specific SOPs in place yet; we create them, so day one runs on documentation instead of on whoever happens to remember how it's supposed to work.
How do I know when it's time to open my first retail store?
There's no single revenue line that makes it automatic, but $10M is where the majority of brands we’ve worked with start to seriously consider retail entry. Many DTC brands have tested (with a pop-up) or even opened physical retail by the time they reach $50M. The real trigger is a rising blended customer acquisition cost paired with demand you can actually see concentrated in a specific market: a metro where your ecommerce density, return rate, and search interest all cluster, and where your margin can survive adding rent and labor to it. Not sure if you’re ready? Book a consultation and let’s chat.
“After more than decade of selling cribs online, opening our first store was a completely new muscle for our team. rekon became an extension of our team, bringing the expertise we needed, helping us build the right playbook, and staying close through opening and beyond.”
Eleanor Vernon, Head of Retail and Community at Babyletto
We are rekon Retail®
rekon Retail® is the leading launch partner for brands ready to create scalable stores and a successful retail channel. With our core focus on best-in-class customer experience and scalable operations, we work as embedded partners for digitally-native brands to manage the end-to-end process of opening stores and launching a retail channel. Our strategic expertise guides and supports brands during this critical period in their expansion.
Our team is made up of frontline operators with years of experience leading and growing retail stores for best-in-class brands. We are former VPs of Retail, District Managers, Visual Merchandisers, Retail Recruiters, Instructional Designers, and Expansion Leaders. And now we get to help the next generation of top consumer brands create and operate successful stores. Meet the team.
Get in touch.
We know physical retail. We believe Retail is Alive®
Efficiently scale your retail channel and set it up for long-term success.
