July 24, 2026
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo.
Which Retail Brands Can Still Win Wall Street?
Jersey Mike’s and sustainable fashion brand Reformation are preparing for public offerings that could become an important test of investor confidence in U.S. retail. After several years of limited IPO activity, their market debuts will help determine whether Wall Street is once again willing to back consumer brands, or whether investors remain cautious about the sector.
The companies represent very different retail models. Jersey Mike’s has built a rapidly expanding franchise business with strong unit economics, while Reformation has focused on premium fashion, sustainability, and direct-to-consumer growth. Together, they offer investors two distinct visions of what a successful modern retail business can look like.
Investors are looking beyond growth
Retail companies are no longer rewarded simply for expanding quickly. Investors are placing greater emphasis on profitability, operational discipline, differentiated customer experiences, and business models capable of generating sustainable long-term growth.
That shift has made public markets more selective. While many retailers continue to grow sales, fewer are demonstrating the financial consistency and competitive advantages investors now expect from newly listed companies.
A new standard for retail success
The outcome of these IPOs may influence how other retailers think about growth, expansion, and capital raising. Whether through franchising, digital-first strategies, premium positioning, or omnichannel execution, companies seeking investor confidence may need to prove not only that they can grow, but that they can build resilient businesses capable of thriving in an increasingly competitive retail landscape.
As the retail industry continues to evolve, the bigger question may not be whether investors are ready to bet on retail again, but which types of retail businesses are most likely to earn their confidence.
BrainTrust
Doug Garnett
President, Protonik
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
Nolan Wheeler
Founder and CEO, SYNQ
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What qualities will investors value most when evaluating retail brands seeking to go public today?
Are profitability and operational discipline now more important than rapid growth for retailers looking to attract investor confidence?
Which retail business models (franchise, direct-to-consumer, omnichannel, or another approach) are best positioned to succeed in today’s public markets?
Poll
The somewhat flippant answer – that simultaneously contains more than a grain of truth – is that brands should focus on winning over customers, not on winning over Wall Street. If the customer proposition isn’t good, then no retailer can deliver sustainable growth or profits. That said, what investors are concerned with has shifted over the past few years. It used to be that top-line growth was the key focus, especially in DTC. Nowadays, investors place more emphasis on profitability or, at least, a clear path to profit. Fortunately, Reformation’s bottom line is in the black and the business model works, which means its IPO will attract interest.
Retail companies are no longer rewarded simply for expanding quickly. Investors are placing greater emphasis on profitability, operational discipline, differentiated customer experiences, and business models capable of generating sustainable long-term growth.
Oh! That I’d love for that to be true. But of course – I’d submit – that’s always been true for investors. The problem is that investors aren’t the only ones in the market; there’s also the quick money crowd and, unfortunately, they seem to be the ones that generate the story lines. When a retail failure can no longer become a darling – and headline – merely by hitching their wagon to AI, then I’ll believe the hopeful premise offered at the top.
The answer to what woo’s Wall Street generally has far less to do with substantive results and far more to do with hype and expectations. In the bits of Scott Galloway’s book I read I was struck that Amazon’s most serious damage to retail may have been how it drew away investment money (despite never showing significant profits on retail-like sales).
Fortunately, a few retailers with significant results will get good investment monies. Unfortunately, almost every retailer at this point seems to believe they have to claim to be “revolutionizing their business with AI” because it’s the necessary ante for getting investment money. I’m reminded of the period from 2007 to 2019 where retailers believed they had to tell Wall Street their online stores were their primary focus.
The primary focus with online stores ended up doing serious damage to retailers as their primary market advantage (their physical stores) suffered. Today, intense focus on AI has the same results—it hurts retail stores.
All to say it’s difficult. Retailers may have to do what is most damaging to their long term health in order to get Wall Street money and that makes me angry.
I’ve always said, in answer to the question “Why didn’t Sears become Amazon?”, because its shareholders wouldn’t have tolerated the large losses that would have been required to do so. (Of course a little – lot? – of ineptitude didn’t help matters.)
CFO-friendly retail brands are in vogue. Investors seek lean, disciplined and agile operations for margin protection and resilience amid relentless waves of change.
Operational discipline may get you in the room, but a compelling vision for where the business is going is what investors are ultimately betting on. The retailers that earn lasting confidence have something that competitors can’t easily replicate, whether that’s community, loyalty, or a product people can’t get elsewhere.
A publicly funded shot-in-the-arm is both a benefit and a curse. Nordstrom, going public in 1971 raised cash for expansion to the midwest and east coast. It fueled growth in the 90’s-00’s to recreate their experience all over the country. But eventually it became a detriment thanks to quarterly scrutiny and the constant spotlight on executive leadership.
Jersey Mikes ownership seemingly has enough locations and should be able to self-fund expansion. I don’t see any novel innovation or need for a Jersey Mikes public offering. Yet a Reformation public offering would seem to make sense in order to help build out and promote the experiences from a sustainable and curated product line.
Global public markets already hold thousands of retailers across every business model: franchise, DTC, omnichannel, and everything between. Model shapes capital efficiency and risk profile, which investors do price into the multiple. But within every model, outcomes still split between winners and losers. Two IPOs can’t settle which structure wins when thousands of data points already exist showing mixed results in every category. What investors want hasn’t changed: return on invested capital, quality of earnings, growth that holds up under scrutiny. Jersey Mike’s and Reformation succeeding will confirm that two companies met that bar, nothing more. The real test for retailers is whether they can execute within whichever model they’ve already chosen.
Wall Street will reward retail brands that can show disciplined growth, not just a good story. Jersey Mike’s and Reformation are interesting tests because both have clear customer propositions, but public markets will look past brand heat quickly if the unit economics, margins, and repeat purchase behavior are not strong.
The mistake is thinking public investors are only buying growth. They are buying proof that growth can scale without breaking the model. Brands that can show that discipline still have a chance to win Wall Street.
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The somewhat flippant answer – that simultaneously contains more than a grain of truth – is that brands should focus on winning over customers, not on winning over Wall Street. If the customer proposition isn’t good, then no retailer can deliver sustainable growth or profits. That said, what investors are concerned with has shifted over the past few years. It used to be that top-line growth was the key focus, especially in DTC. Nowadays, investors place more emphasis on profitability or, at least, a clear path to profit. Fortunately, Reformation’s bottom line is in the black and the business model works, which means its IPO will attract interest.
Oh! That I’d love for that to be true. But of course – I’d submit – that’s always been true for investors. The problem is that investors aren’t the only ones in the market; there’s also the quick money crowd and, unfortunately, they seem to be the ones that generate the story lines. When a retail failure can no longer become a darling – and headline – merely by hitching their wagon to AI, then I’ll believe the hopeful premise offered at the top.
The answer to what woo’s Wall Street generally has far less to do with substantive results and far more to do with hype and expectations. In the bits of Scott Galloway’s book I read I was struck that Amazon’s most serious damage to retail may have been how it drew away investment money (despite never showing significant profits on retail-like sales).
Fortunately, a few retailers with significant results will get good investment monies. Unfortunately, almost every retailer at this point seems to believe they have to claim to be “revolutionizing their business with AI” because it’s the necessary ante for getting investment money. I’m reminded of the period from 2007 to 2019 where retailers believed they had to tell Wall Street their online stores were their primary focus.
The primary focus with online stores ended up doing serious damage to retailers as their primary market advantage (their physical stores) suffered. Today, intense focus on AI has the same results—it hurts retail stores.
All to say it’s difficult. Retailers may have to do what is most damaging to their long term health in order to get Wall Street money and that makes me angry.
I’ve always said, in answer to the question “Why didn’t Sears become Amazon?”, because its shareholders wouldn’t have tolerated the large losses that would have been required to do so. (Of course a little – lot? – of ineptitude didn’t help matters.)
CFO-friendly retail brands are in vogue. Investors seek lean, disciplined and agile operations for margin protection and resilience amid relentless waves of change.
Operational discipline may get you in the room, but a compelling vision for where the business is going is what investors are ultimately betting on. The retailers that earn lasting confidence have something that competitors can’t easily replicate, whether that’s community, loyalty, or a product people can’t get elsewhere.
A publicly funded shot-in-the-arm is both a benefit and a curse. Nordstrom, going public in 1971 raised cash for expansion to the midwest and east coast. It fueled growth in the 90’s-00’s to recreate their experience all over the country. But eventually it became a detriment thanks to quarterly scrutiny and the constant spotlight on executive leadership.
Jersey Mikes ownership seemingly has enough locations and should be able to self-fund expansion. I don’t see any novel innovation or need for a Jersey Mikes public offering. Yet a Reformation public offering would seem to make sense in order to help build out and promote the experiences from a sustainable and curated product line.
Global public markets already hold thousands of retailers across every business model: franchise, DTC, omnichannel, and everything between. Model shapes capital efficiency and risk profile, which investors do price into the multiple. But within every model, outcomes still split between winners and losers. Two IPOs can’t settle which structure wins when thousands of data points already exist showing mixed results in every category. What investors want hasn’t changed: return on invested capital, quality of earnings, growth that holds up under scrutiny. Jersey Mike’s and Reformation succeeding will confirm that two companies met that bar, nothing more. The real test for retailers is whether they can execute within whichever model they’ve already chosen.
Wall Street will reward retail brands that can show disciplined growth, not just a good story. Jersey Mike’s and Reformation are interesting tests because both have clear customer propositions, but public markets will look past brand heat quickly if the unit economics, margins, and repeat purchase behavior are not strong.
The mistake is thinking public investors are only buying growth. They are buying proof that growth can scale without breaking the model. Brands that can show that discipline still have a chance to win Wall Street.