Opening Retail Stores vs. Going Wholesale: What the Numbers Say
About this episode
The episode discusses the pros and cons of opening retail stores versus going wholesale for consumer brands.
Should you open your own stores, or let the big retailers do the heavy lifting? Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) go head to head on one of the biggest channel decisions a consumer brand will face. Curtis went from a spite-signed lease to 16 owned stores, while Mike turned a $9 million Sam’s Club bet into 10,000 wholesale doors. This episode breaks down these two different paths and what each model actually costs you in competency, capital, and control, why the wrong channel for your product category is almost impossible to recover from, and what private equity is really looking for when they come knocking on an omnichannel brand. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
People in this episode
Guests: Curtis Matsko, Matt Bertulli, Mike Beckham
Topics covered
- retail strategy
- wholesale vs retail
- consumer brand channels
- business growth
- private equity
Keywords
- retail stores
- wholesale
- consumer brands
- channel decisions
- private equity
Sponsors
Fulfil, Saras Analytics, Postscript, Richpanel, Northbeam, Aftersell, Operators Newsletter
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Portland Leather Goods, Pela Case, Lomi, Simple Modern
More episodes of OPERATORS
- $450M, 6 Brands & 4 Countries: Why Sunil Agrawal Refuses to Stop
- Roman Khan: The Ecommerce Logistics Play Worth $10 Billion
- Help an Operator Out: 8-Figure Dog Brand That Needs a New Growth
- 100% Growth for 8 Years: IQBAR’s Will Nitze & Jess Greenwood
- Our 2026 Ecommerce Audit: Wins, Mistakes, Lessons & What’s Next
- How a $1.5B Pet Brand Wins at Ecommerce Marketing: Whisker’s CEO
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the OPERATORS podcast page.