Rails to increase brick-and-mortar presence

The Los Angeles-based clothing company Rails is shifting its strategy from wholesale to retail, and has announced it will open four new stores in 2025. The lifestyle apparel brand recently opened stores in Atlanta’s Buckhead Village and the Phoenix-area Scottsdale Quarter. It will also open new locations in Bethesda, Md., on April 25, and on Chicago’s Armitage Avenue later this spring.

After mostly selling wholesale during the first part of Rails' 15-year history, the new openings are part of what founder Jeff Abrams’ described as a retail strategy to open four to five stores per year, (mostly in the U.S., but maybe one to two international stores per year). Rails has 16 stores including stores in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and Paris.

Read more: Rails Plots U.S. Expansion and First Menswear Store in a Strategy to Pivot From Wholesale to Direct-to-consumer (Women’s Wear Daily)

Krispy Krunchy Chicken to open 600 stores in 2025

You’ve head of Chick-fil-A Restaurants, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and KFC. But have you heard at all about KKC? It’s the fastest growing chain of store-in-store restaurants serving Louisiana-style fried chicken called Krispy Krunchy Chicken by Krispy Krunchy Foods LLC.

The Alexandria, Louisiana-based chain beat its previous record of 481 restaurant openings in 2023, and opened 605 restaurants in 2024. This year it plans to open more than 600. Most of these restaurants are inside c-stores but many are inside Walmart, supermarkets, malls, casinos and college campuses. For comparison, fast-growing coffee chain Starbucks opened 614 new locations from 2023 to 2024, according to its financial filing.

KKC uses the Olo app to consolidate third-party delivery services and works with DoorDash, UberEats and Grubhub.

The restaurant chain was purchased by a private equity firm Main Post Partners in 2021. Jim Norberg is the CEO of Krispy Krunchy Chicken. Dan Shapiro is chairman of the board of the company. There are currently more than 3,200 Krispy Krunchy Chicken locations in 47 states.

Read more: A little-known Louisiana fried chicken chain quietly grew by more than 600 stores last year (Daily Mail)

Atomic Wings to double its restaurant count in 2025

Another fast-food chicken restaurant chain is looking to grow its store count. Atomic Wings, known for its New York-style buffalo wings has 22 units now open across the U.S. and a strong pipeline of development, aiming to open 30-34 units by the end of 2025.

Atomic Wings has now begun to expand beyond its traditional New York market, according to Zak Omar, CEO of Atomic Wings. In 2024, the chain entered Texas, Minnesota, Indiana, South Dakota, Virginia and Illinois.

This year, Atomic Wings plans to expand in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. In addition to its existing locations, Atomic Wings is targeting New York, New Jersey, Texas, Arizona and Nevada for additional growth. The brand is led by brothers Zak and Ray Omar.

Read more: Atomic Wings Closes 2024 with Record Growth and Big Plans for 2025 (Retail & Restaurant Facility Business)