The Kalibrate retail round-up: March 2024

In this monthly feature, we look across the industry and mainstream news to uncover some stories of note that we think are worth your attention.

March 26, 2024|2 minutes

Wonder raises $700M, plans to reach 90 units in 2025

With 11 delivery focused restaurants in operation, Wonder has raised $700m with plans to grow to 90 units by the end of next year. We’re excited to see where they’ll be popping up next.

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Destination XL to open 9 stores this year

Destination XL, the big and tell men’s apparel retailer will add nine new stores to its 300 existing locations this year. The retail believes 44% of its target demographic do not shop with them as there is no store nearby – makes perfect sense to us.

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Chick-fil-A to open first digital-only pickup restaurant in NYC

Setting its sights on urban centers with heavy foot traffic, Chick-fil-A opened its prototype digital-only pick up location in New York. The restaurant will time orders to customers’ arrival based on geofencing. As big fans of chicken and smart use of location data, this one’s a ‘yes’ from us.

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New concept Cinnabon Swirl promises elevated dessert experience

QSR Magazine’s profile of Cinnabon Swirl, a mashup of Cinnabon and Carvel, and its plans for launch is well worth your time. We’ve seen a spike in co-branded and chain combination restaurant experiments in recent months and we’ll be keeping our eye on this one too.

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Shell plans to divest 1,000 retail sites in shift to EV charging

Shell is planning to divest 500 sites over the next two years while increasing its public charging count to 200,000 by the end of the decade. That compares with 54,000 in operation today, and represents on the largest scale EV announcements by a major fuel retailer anywhere.

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