While flagships have their place, and for certain brands it makes great sense, in general I believe the era of flagships is coming to an end. The fact is, retailers need to deliver great customer experiences in all their stores and not just in flagships.

Flagships in big cities have suffered in the pandemic, mainly because foot traffic has dropped as commuters and tourists have visited less frequently. So, to some extent, they will become more relevant as those trends unwind. However flagship stores are only useful if retailers can generate significantly higher (profitable) volume from them or if they help build brand value in some other way. The Gap approach to a flagship was to have a very large store that was basically the same as its smaller stores. What is the point in that? That kind of vanity play will almost certainly come to an end as retailers assess their costs.

Flagship stores have one purpose. They are for promoting the brand. Any costs of operating these stores should come out of the advertising and promotion budget and not the operating budget. The measure A&F uses of 10 percent of the square footage and only 1 percent of the sales is entirely the wrong measure. While 10 percent of square footage seems excessive overall, the measure should be the impact on the brand (awareness, preference, positive association), not the sales.

If anything, the flagship stores will be more valuable in the omnichannel world. It will promote the brand for shoppers to go home and buy.

I’ve rarely seen a flagship store post higher profitability than other stores across a brand’s chain and typically retailers have been OK with that due to the brand value it brings. Going forward I see the value of flagships for up and coming brands that are trying to break through a crowded marketplace. The established (and often suffering) brands like Gap and A&F will be focusing more on profitability.

I always have considered flagships as research and development labs where if you could have everything you want in a store you would put it in a flagship, test it, and roll out components of it to the other stores. I believe they still have a value in that respect.

During the pandemic, flagship stores had minimal value and they are still below pre-pandemic levels because tourism retail is still being impacted. While store traffic may never reach pre-pandemic levels, flagship stores will continue to be a great draw for destination retail and consumers who appreciate the entertainment of shopping. However the cost of flagship stores in premium locations like NYC may not be worth it for non-premium brands.

I think there is a slippery slope between the idea that flagships are dead and the idea that retail is dead. Without question, digital is the new flagship of any brand.

However for new product introduction and creating brand experience, there is nothing in digital to replace an immersive physical experience. Particularly for a brand that wants to create international buzz (high value tourists!).

Flagship stores are worthwhile when they offer something that’s uniquely different from the rest of the stores. Sadly, many don’t. They’re just bigger versions of what you find at your local mall.

It doesn’t get any better than Macy’s Herald Square; the former Marshall Field’s on State Street in Chicago, now a Macy’s, is another good example. Both of these buildings are almost as important as what’s inside – shoppers know they are in a special place. The pandemic hurt these big stores but I am not ready to write them off.

Flagships are not a thing of the past – the purpose of the flagship is what needs to evolve.

No one needs a flagship store in every high-traffic shopping area or to serve as an anchor to a shopping mall. Flagships don’t have to be giant monstrosities but what they do need to be is a representation of the brand with engaging experiences, innovative product ranges, and localized assortments.

The flagship needs to engage the customer and get them involved in what the brand actually represents – Nike + sport, Adidas + sustainability, Levi’s + product innovation and so on.

This is what we want to see. Involve your customers in creating a validating product in your flagship stores. Create an exciting and invigorating experience that wows at every visit.

Customers want to be delighted. A flagship can do that.

I believe in the theater of shopping so flagships to me are a stage and there will always be theater on Broadway. I believe it is more about the brand and innovation. If you build excitement into your stores they will come. We have to reinvent our brands to stay fresh and relevant in a milieu where people are satisfied with the 2-D or 3-D online experience instead of real life.

The flagship store serves to represent, and draw consumer interest to, the brand. I will never forget when Ralph Lauren opened his flagship store in the former Rhinelander Mansion on the corner of some of the most expensive real estate in New York City, with Bloomingdale’s – theretofore Ralph’s biggest outlet – merely blocks down Madison Avenue, and Marvin Traub understood the benefit of having the flagship there. In big cities, with a lot of tourist traffic, a well-done flagship can be a destination. “If you build [right], they will come.”

Gibson has it right. If you aren’t going to set a high water mark for delivering an exceptional experience but just have more of your stuff in a bigger store like Gap, you might as well close the flagships – and most of your stores. Get it right like Lululemon and Starbucks and you truly make your flagship the heart and soul all of what all your other stores should aspire to be.

Yes some flagship stores have become irrelevant but here in NYC, it is not the case as NYC is coming back fast. Nordstrom is in a location that will always have traffic given that it is steps away from Columbus Circle and Central Park. Tourists are starting to return, so they will be all over town including all the large retailers in Hudson Yards. Attendees at next years NRF will be amazed!

Just like the number of malls and the overall store count got out of control, so did the whole concept of flagship stores. Flagships as pure ego projects are history. But flagship as an acknowledgement to the Explore + Experiment = Experience equation still make sense. Brands need to explore and experiment every bit as much as customers do.

Just like the number of malls and the overall store count got out of control, so did the whole concept of flagship stores. Flagships as pure ego projects are history. But flagship as an acknowledgement to the Explore + Experiment = Experience equation still make sense. Brands need to explore and experiment every bit as much as customers do.

As travel and tourism return, the interest in experiential retail will come back. While giant flagships in central cities may never carry the same cachet — especially if nearby offices remain half-empty — they still serve a purpose in defining a brand. The model isn’t sustainable for every retailer, but the “buzz factor” still makes sense for many brands.

I think the opposite is true — I think that the flagship idea will actually become more important going forward, BUT in a different fashion from the behemoths of the ’80s and ’90s. Albeit in a reduced manner, consumers still want to see, touch and “feel” a brand, and there is no better way to achieve that than through physical depiction. They may be showroom stores or partial fulfillment centers but with e-commerce soon being the dominant form of shopping, the idea of a heightened retail experience will increase in importance as a “frosting on the cake” method of making your brand better than (or at least much different than) your competitors.

Flagships aren’t just stores. They’re billboards, giant advertisements, brand palaces, and invitations to experience what that brand has to offer. It doesn’t matter whether they are profitable or not; they exist to create mystique and aspirational desire. Long live the flagship.

Clearly, the flagship stores that are launching in the era of COVID-19 are highly experiential and brand driven. This is important because the perceived value of having a flagship presence for a company is still important. Integrating immersive short-term offline retail experiences into the brick-and-mortar shopping journey for the consumer is key now and going forward, regardless of location. The consumer has changed and retailers need to adapt.

Flagship stores are the ultimate expression of the brand. They are a marketing investment designed to wow customers with the best the brand offers from the in-store experience. That includes assortment uniqueness, special collections, visuals, signage, and services. You look at flagships first as brand enhancers and force multipliers and not as profit centers.

The pandemic was a once-in-a-lifetime event rather than the new (ab)normal. Flag store location selection is critical and needs to align with and enrich the brand proposition. Gibson and Nashville form a natural pairing, so do fashion and Manhattan. Regional flagship stores make sense with robust research and execution. In the land of omnichannel, there is an even greater need for well-designed, highly experiential flagship stores.

Flagships are like Disneyland – an expensive treat for the family once a year, but not a place you’re going to visit every week. I get why flagships seem like a good idea – they generate press and appear to be a great marketing tool. But in truth brands will see more success if they first map out the key pillars of their brand, then figure out how to inject these pillars into their everyday stores before building flagships. It’s easy to build a highly experiential flagship with boatloads of square footage and money, but very, very hard to scale that down to where the money is really made – in the mainstay local level stores. Value comes from connecting to your community of regular shoppers, not in unique and more often far away flagships.

No, though perhaps the terminology needs to change. Physical presence is only less important for brands that sell what amounts to convenience and commodity-oriented products. For everyone else physical presences are an essential component of a well-harmonized (can we please stop using “omnichannel”?) customer-first strategy. But the role of brick-and-mortar continues to evolve. Shopping is not about physical or digital, it is how they work together in concert. Stores themselves are increasingly hybrid in nature, serving in their historical manner (places for customers to go inspect product, maybe get some sales help and get immediate gratification), but more and more as the hub of a brand’s ecosystem. This means they are places to pick-up and return e-commerce orders, sources of product inspiration, the most elevated brand marketing, service centers and more. So the stores themselves will evolve in their layout, design and operations to serve their hybrid roles. A given retailer’s format deployment needs to evolve to become more hybrid. Flagship stores will still have a role in being the most immersive and expansive expression… Read more »

It isn’t a question of flagships being more or less worthwhile, it’s an issue of whether brands can develop fewer, and more highly differentiated, flagship locations. In other words, what else could a flagship store be if it wasn’t trying to function as a traditional flagship? The default answer is “an experience center” – whatever that means, but I think that too often “experience” is a buzzword for “haven’t got a clue.” Why not have a few flagships that function as consumer testing and information learning labs? What happens instead of flaunting style consumers were invited to co-design existing products or new lines? Flagships have historically been built as places where people meet the brand. What would happen if we turn that around and view flagships as the place where the brand meets the consumer?

The value of a flagship seems to depend on the usefulness of a dramatic showcase to feature products. So it’s no wonder that Gap’s showcases struggle — customers don’t have enough reason to go to their mall stores let alone a showcase.

As with any other effort, there’s no truth to the idea that “all showcases should succeed” nor that “all brands will thrive with showcases.” Some should and will. Many shouldn’t and won’t.

But that’s also nothing new. Any business effort needs to be considered for the unique, individual reality of that business at the specific point in time.

Think of flagship stores as ambassadors from a brand and marketing perspective – they have their place, especially in fashion, especially in big cities like NYC. However even more exciting (at least for me) are incubator/concept stores – often in demographically representative areas where retailers across all sectors are testing new technologies leveraging data analytics focused on the customer experience.

The objective of a flagship store is to generate awareness and exposure to a brand in an area of high traffic. Those stores rarely pay out per se — their impact is spread across markets and channels as consumers make their purchases later on.

Many of those stores are located where tourist traffic is strong, which spreads brand exposure to other markets without going to them (e.g. NYC). As tourist traffic grows again post COVID, flagship stores will regain some of their importance.

A “flagship” was the ship that carried the commander of the fleet and flied the commander’s flag. It was better than every other ship in the fleet in every respect. So too must a flagship store be. It’s not enough to rent a big, high profile location and then just do the usual (boring) store. It needs to be a true experience that brings the brand to life and wows customers.

And while it’s great if you can make money at the flagship, the measurement of that store needs to extend beyond just the cash register. That store, done right, is the “commercial” that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Done right, it drives awareness, traffic to the online site, and even traffic to your other stores.

Flagships work for brands that know how to leverage them, hence why they are increasingly scarce.