Fjällräven opened seven stores across North America in the past two years and plans a new multi-brand retail concept to break customer dependence on its Kånken backpack, according to Modern Retail. The Swedish outdoor brand, owned by Fenix Outdoor, is using physical retail to reposition itself as a credible outerwear player rather than a backpack company that also sells jackets.
The stores anchor a category expansion strategy. Fjällräven's North American retail footprint now includes standalone locations in major metro areas, each designed to showcase the full product range with equal visual weight on technical outerwear, hiking gear, and accessories. The multi-brand concept store, launching with sister labels under the Fenix Outdoor umbrella, extends the floor space and dwell time without diluting the Fjällräven brand on every fixture.
This works because retail square footage forces portfolio buying behavior that e-commerce cannot replicate at the same conversion rate. A customer who enters for a $110 Kånken backpack encounters mannequins in $400 parkas, tent displays, and staff trained on technical features. The in-store basket size and category mix shift when the brand controls the merchandising narrative. Fjällräven is also insulated from the algorithmic tendency of online marketplaces to show only the hero SKU that drives the most traffic, which in their case has been the backpack for over a decade.
The multi-brand store format solves a problem for mid-tier outdoor brands that cannot justify the rent on a solo flagship in every geography. By splitting occupancy costs across Fjällräven, Primus, Hanwag, and Royal Robbins—all Fenix Outdoor properties—the parent company secures high-street retail presence and cross-sells adjacent use cases without the customer fatigue of walking the same brand for 30 minutes. It is the DTC version of a category shop, owned end-to-end.
The steal for a small physical-product brand: open a 100-200 square foot retail corner or pop-up inside a complementary business that already has foot traffic and rent covered. A technical apparel brand leases space inside a climbing gym. A chef's knife maker takes a corner in a cooking school. A dog accessory brand rents a table at a pet groomer. You pay a flat monthly fee or revenue share, you control the merchandising, and you get the in-person basket lift without signing a five-year lease.
Source your location by identifying businesses that serve your same customer but do not compete on product. Approach with a simple term sheet: $500-$1,500 per month for a defined footprint, or 10-15 percent revenue share if they prefer performance terms. Bring your own fixtures, signage, and inventory. Staff it yourself on peak days or train one of their employees to hand-sell your line for commission. Run it for 90 days, measure basket size against your online average, and expand or walk.
The broader pattern is using physical space to reposition a product range when digital channels have locked you into one SKU. Retail is not about volume for these brands. It is about changing the story in the customer's head, one conversation at a time, in a place where you control every surface.
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