How to plan a store launch.

Start the clock 45 days out

A store opening is a launch with a fixed address and a date that does not move. So the plan works back from that date. JD Sports' own store decks plan communication 45 days before each changeover from Finish Line to JD Sports, and it is a good place for any retailer to start the clock.

That window gives you time to settle the story for this door, book the people who make it feel like an event, and tell the neighborhood before the doors open. Start later and the content shows up after the moment it was meant to build.

Work back from opening day

Keep the calendar on one page that everyone can see: the store team, the brand team, the talent and the production team.

• 45 days out: the story for this door, what is new, who it is for, and the date shared with everyone who needs it.
• The weeks after: talent, guests and local partners confirmed, and the store scouted for light, entrances and where the line will form.
• The week of: the shot list signed off, call times sent, and permits, store access and security checked.
• Opening morning: the capture team in before the doors, the guest after, the line filmed as it builds.
• Opening night: the first films live on the feed.
• The days after: the recap film and the full set of films and stills for every channel.

The run of show, hourly

The run of show is the document that keeps an opening calm. At the Aventura opening for JD Sports in June 2023, the capture team was called for 9:00 AM and the athlete arrived at 11:00 AM. That gap is not idle time. It is when you film the empty store, the staff getting ready, the first people in line and the details that will never look that clean again.

Put every call time on one page: production, talent, store team, security and the moment the doors open. Name one person who can hold the clock when something runs late, because something always does.

• Call time, then the empty store and the product details
• The store team getting ready
• The line as it forms outside
• Talent arrival, and where they enter
• Doors open
• The crowd meeting the product and the guest
• Cards handed to the editor for the first cut

Film for the feed that night

An opening is news for a day. The film that lands that night gets the reach. The same film a week later is an archive. So plan the edit before the shoot: which vertical posts that night, which cuts follow, and which stills go to press and to the store team.

It is the same discipline we bring to launch nights. For the adidas World Cup 26 away kit launch in Los Angeles, the recap film landed the day after. At the Knoxville game day for adidas and DICK'S, the vertical went out the same night.

When the name changes

A rebrand adds a second story. When Finish Line became JD Sports, each opening had to do two jobs: open a store and introduce a new name in a place people already knew. We filmed openings for JD Sports through that change, from Aventura in June 2023 to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica in November 2024.

If your store is changing its name, give the regulars a reason to come back on the first day. Show what is new inside, who is behind it, and why the change is good news for the neighborhood. This is where the 45 day clock matters most.

One standard in every city

A run of openings is a series. Keep one lead, one shot list and one delivery standard, so the last store looks as considered as the first. Our openings for JD Sports ran from the Bronx to Staten Island, and from Chicago to Las Vegas and Houston, with the same standard in each.

That standard carried through two years of store launches and activations for JD Sports, and it is part of how we have delivered 354 films for JD Sports since 2023.

What to hand over

Ask for the files in the shapes your channels use: verticals for social, wider cuts for screens in store, stills for press and the store team. Agree on file names, folders and who signs off before anything posts. Then plan the next door while this one is still fresh.

The checklist

• Opening date confirmed and shared 45 days out
• The story for this door in one sentence
• Talent, guests and local partners confirmed
• Store scouted for light, entrances and where the line will form
• Run of show by the hour, every call time on one page
• Shot list: empty store, team prep, the line, doors open, the guest, the crowd, the details
• Permits, store access and security checked
• The edit planned before the shoot, including what posts that night
• One person who signs off before anything goes live
• Delivery list: verticals, wider cuts, stills and the recap film
• File names and folders agreed for every delivery