Rothy’s store fleet helped catapult the brand to a record $211M in sales
After a year of record revenue, Rothy’s says its stores were a major factor in helping drive the brand above the $200 million sales mark.
Rothy’s reported this week that its revenue grew 17% in 2024, to $211 million. What’s more, the footwear brand reported same-store sales growth of 20%. Rothy’s added nine new stores in 2024, growing its brick-and-mortar fleet by roughly 50%.
“We have a very profitable and productive fleet,” Rothy’s president Dayna Quanbeck told Modern Retail in an interview. Rothy’s opened its first store in 2018, a 336-square-foot jewel box in San Francisco. But, the brand has found that a slightly larger store size is more optimal; the average store size across Rothy’s entire fleet is approximately 1,567 square feet.
Most of Rothy’s sales still come from its direct-to-consumer website. But Rothy’s has spent the past two years diversifying its sales channels. In addition to opening more stores, the brand also started selling through Amazon, and 2024 is where Rothy’s really started to see “critical mass” from these efforts, Quanbeck said.
Quanbeck joined Rothy’s in 2019 as its chief financial officer and chief operating officer, and then became the brand’s president at the beginning of 2024. Before joining Rothy’s, she was the interim CEO at Charlotte Russe, which went bankrupt in February 2019. There, Quanbeck saw first-hand the perils of having a massive store footprint.
When Charlotte Russe filed for bankruptcy, it had around 600 stores. By contrast, Rothy’s only has 26 stores today. This year, Rothy’s has a roadmap to open nine stores. Quanbeck said five to ten store openings a year would be the ideal sweet spot for Rothy’s in the near term.
The brand is also being disciplined about leases. There’s one location Rothy’s hopes to be signing a lease on soon, Quanbeck said. It is the fifth location Rothy’s has looked at on that particular street, but Rothy’s was waiting for a spot with the ideal co-tenants to open up.
As Modern Retail previously reported, Rothy’s views its stores as a way for shoppers – particularly those who are new to the brand – to learn more about its sustainability mission and discover the wide breadth of product the brand now sells. Rothy’s got its start selling ballet flats made out of recycled materials, but it now also sells other accessories like tote bags and clutches.
Something Rothy’s has been hyperfocused on, Quanbeck said, is relooking at “how we are doing storytelling in stores, making sure there’s more branding, more expression.” That includes hosting more events. On National Recycling Day, for example, Rothy’s partnered with Hydro Flask on an initiative where customers could get a free reusable water bottle if they were willing to trade in their plastic water bottles.
Rothy’s tells its sustainability story in other subtle ways throughout its stores. Rothy’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan has been a testing ground for some of these storytelling initatives Rothy’s wants to roll out to more of its fleet. These include touches like a counter that shows how many water bottles Rothy’s has been able to repurpose, as well as a chandelier made out of the sustainable threads Rothy’s uses. These pieces also serve as a conversation starter, which can also help Rothy’s store employees explain the ways the product is unique.
“Our brand has so many attributes that make it unique, it is really hard to tell that in one sentence,” Quanbeck said.
Beth Goldstein, executive director and industry analyst at Circana, said it is hard for brands to tell their stories in wholesale when “your product is placed on a table next to other brands.” That is one of the benefits of opening your own stores. Overall, she said that Rothy’s “seems to be looking at their stores in tandem with where they are available in wholesale to avoid oversaturating in one market,” which is helping to build a “good diversified strategy.”
In 2024, Rothy’s began testing with wholesale partners like Anthropologie, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. In 2025 and beyond, Quanbeck said Rothy’s will be looking to more locations in the South; a Houston location is coming later this year. Building around an anchor store in some of its top markets will be another focus. For example, Rothy’s now has two stores in the Washington D.C. area: one in the Georgetown neighborhood and one in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. “It’s been amazing to see, actually, the stores have not cannibalized one another. The whole market has grown,” Quanbeck said.
“Two to three great stores in a market really grows our brand in a way that’s hard to do just online or in just one store,” Quanbeck added.