# Huxberry Flagship Location — Research Handoff

_Compiled 21 Aug 2026. Purpose: allow a new person to pick up the flagship-location work with zero prior context. Read this first, then the two companion documents._

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## 1. Document map

| Document | Where | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| **Store-Location Strategy** (the original handoff from the Nish/Rajiv discussion + Rajiv's added input) | Local: `huxberry-dubai-store-location-strategy.md` · Proof: https://proof.huxapps.com/d/aadu6imb | Decision framing, confirmed lease facts, the destination-retail hypothesis, testing framework, Rajiv's position (added 21 Aug) |
| **Flagship Location Report, rev 3** (the analysis) | Local: `huxberry-flagship-location-report.md` · Proof: https://proof.huxapps.com/d/t0158bi8 (⚠ Proof copy may be one revision behind — the local file is authoritative; push was blocked by a live viewer) | Full evidence: sales data, brand locations, rents, five-way assessment under the AED 1.2M cap, 60-day plan |
| **This handoff** | Local: `huxberry-location-research-handoff.md` | Process, data provenance, corrections log, unverified items, exact next actions |

All local files: `/Users/rajivfaria/Desktop/Claude/Claude Code/`.

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## 2. The decision in one paragraph

Huxberry's 5,000 sq ft Sheikh Zayed Road flagship lease is expiring; the landlord's renewal ask is **AED 2M/year** (was previously reported as 2.4M — corrected). The budget ceiling is **AED 1.2M/year**. Candidate districts: Sheikh Zayed Road (renewal, or a smaller unit), **Umm Suqeim Road** (the Al Barsha 2 corridor between Al Barsha and Al Quoz — NOT the coastal Umm Suqeim villa district), Jumeirah/Al Wasl, and Al Quoz. Because every brand-safe corridor now prices ≈ AED 400/sq ft, the cap buys ~3,000 sq ft everywhere except Al Quoz (which fails on brand precedent and marketing fit). Current ranking: **1) Umm Suqeim Road ~3,000 sq ft (availability is the constraint), 2) SZR small-format at the 3,000 sq ft end (~AED 1M, ready fallback), 3) Jumeirah (same price/size, no category cluster), 4) renewal only if negotiated to ≤1.2M, 5) Al Quoz (full size within budget, but not recommended).**

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## 3. Internal data findings (and exactly how they were produced)

Source: Huxberry's Shopify Admin (accessed via the Shopify MCP connector; the store reports under internal domain "huxberry-dev.myshopify.com", storefront huxberry.com, currency AED).

### 3.1 Product mix — 12 months (ShopifyQL: `FROM sales SHOW total_sales, net_sales, orders GROUP BY product_type SINCE -12m`)
- Total 12-month Shopify sales: **AED 7.57M**
- Of classified revenue (~AED 3.56M): **Mattresses 76.2% (2.71M) · Beds 7.8% (279k) · Bedding/pillows/protectors/sheets ~11% (~400k) · Sofas 3.9% (138k) · Other furniture <1%**
- Mattresses + beds ≈ **84%**. Huxberry is a mattress business with a furniture ambition.

### 3.2 Sales channel (ShopifyQL: `GROUP BY sales_channel`)
- **Draft Orders: AED 7.03M (93%) across 521 orders** — manually keyed, i.e. showroom/salesperson-led
- Online Store self-checkout: AED 534k (7%)
- Implication: the flagship is the revenue engine, not a marketing expense.

### 3.3 Known data gaps (open)
- **AED 4.0M of the year's revenue was keyed as custom line items** (no product attached, blank title/type) inside draft orders — invisible to product-mix analysis. → Fixable by cross-referencing NetSuite sales-order lines (company has NetSuite; SuiteQL access exists in-house via `~/.netsuite/ns.py` on Rajiv's Mac).
- The "huxberry-dev" domain: verify figures against NetSuite before quoting externally.

### 3.4 Customer geography — ~5-week sample only
Shopify's order API returned orders only back to ~15 Jul 2026 (151 orders, AED 1.4M). **This is NOT a full year** — treat as a recent sample. 95.5% of the sample's revenue is from orders ≥ AED 3,000, so it effectively maps high-ticket customers. Method: GraphQL `orders` query paging shipping addresses, classified into districts by address text.

High-ticket revenue by district: **Jumeirah 1–3/City Walk 14.2% (largest single district) · Abu Dhabi 13.4% (on just 7 orders — one at AED 144k; proof top customers travel 90+ min) · Arabian Ranches cluster 12.5% · Dubai Hills 7.2% · Palm 6.2% · Al Barsha 4.6% · Marina 4.3% · JLT/Emirates Living 3.0% · Al Quoz residents 0%.**

Structure: a coastal mass (~25%) + a southern villa-corridor mass (~26%); every candidate corridor sits between them → **drive-time does not differentiate the candidates.**

Open item: pull full-year customer origins from delivery records (NetSuite/logistics), since Shopify's API window is short. Blank/unusable addresses were 13.3% of the sample's revenue.

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## 4. External research findings (verified with sources)

### 4.1 Where premium sleep brands locate (the key comparable set)
- **Umm Suqeim Road / Al Barsha 2 corridor — Dubai's de-facto bed & mattress mile:** The Mattress Store, 1/11 Umm Suqeim Rd (carries Hästens, Auping, Englander, Technogel) — themattressstore.com/pages/the-mattress-store-umm-suqeim · MEROË The Bed Boutique (about.me/meroe) · The Bedroom by Intercoil (Vispring/Simmons; thebedroom.com/store-locator) · plus furniture anchors Marina Home, Pan Emirates, Aura Living, and the **Art of Living Mall** (UAE's first furniture-specialized mall; Wikipedia). CarpetLand also reported here by Rajiv (**not independently verified**).
- **SZR frontage, Interchanges 2–4:** Hästens' 4,000 sq ft ME flagship (Eiffel 1, Umm Al Sheif; hastens.com) · Bed Quarter/Tempur at 725 SZR + Jumeirah 3 satellite (bedquarter.ae) · Simmons (Intercoil) at 4th Interchange · Serta SZR/Al Quoz edge. Contiguous with the Umm Suqeim Rd corridor — one shopping journey.
- **Prime malls:** Duxiana (Dubai Mall), Serta, King Koil.
- **Al Quoz interior:** only **Heveya** (organic latex — the closest organic comparable; lean appointment-led "Sleep Studio", Al Quoz Ind. 3; heveya.ae) and Intercoil (because its factory is there). **No premium sleep flagship exists on Al Quoz interior streets — this absence is a central finding.**

### 4.2 Furniture brands (kept separate per Rajiv's request — different location logic)
- Internationals: Natuzzi (SZR — world's largest showroom, westernfurniture.ae), Roche Bobois, BoConcept (SZR + Jumeirah Beach Rd), Aati (SZR); d3 for Minotti/B&B Italia/Poltrona Frau/Cassina; **OBEGI Home's 3,000 m² flagship on Jumeirah Beach Rd** (poliform.it news); The One flagship Jumeirah; Marina Home/Crate & Barrel in malls.
- Homegrown designer-led: Al Quoz — Klekktic (custom furniture, warehouse flagship, expanded 2024–25; klekktic.com), Tribe, Beit Prod (appointment-only). **These run PR / designer-network / collaboration / appointment marketing — NOT performance ads.** Huxberry's marketing is performance-only (Google/Meta static), which is the core reason inner Al Quoz is a poor fit without building a new marketing capability.
- Cautionary: **Pottery Barn & West Elm exited the UAE in 2025** (Khaleej Times).

### 4.3 District trajectory notes
- **Al Quoz Creative Zone** is a real, state-backed program (Dubai 2040; target 20,000 creative practitioners; RTA pedestrian/cycling infrastructure completed Jan 2026; Gulf Business). Alserkal Avenue pulls **~2M visitors/year** (alserkal.online). Al Quoz 2030 will be a better address than today — argues for future optionality (appointment studio), not for the flagship now.
- **RTA upgrade of Umm Suqeim St / Jumeirah St / Al Safa / Al Wasl** announced May 2025, construction from Q3 2025 (Dubai Media Office) — near-term roadworks on Jumeirah corridors, longer-term uplift.

### 4.4 Rent picture (the numbers that decide everything)
| Corridor | Figure | Source / status |
|---|---|---|
| SZR small format (2,000–3,000 sq ft) | ~AED 1M/yr asking (≈330–500/sq ft) | **Rajiv's Bayut soundings — treat as current market truth** |
| SZR current store renewal | AED 2M for 5,000 sq ft (400/sq ft) | **Landlord ask, per Rajiv — market-consistent, not gouging** |
| SZR 4,000–5,000 sq ft | Nothing near 1.4M exists | Rajiv — earlier report estimates were wrong |
| Umm Suqeim Rd corridor | Units ~3,000 sq ft, **limited availability**; asking rents NOT yet confirmed | **The single most important open number — broker sweep required** |
| Jumeirah / Al Wasl | ~AED 400/sq ft, 2,500–3,000 sq ft | Rajiv's soundings — portal figures of 100–200 proved wrong |
| Al Quoz interior | Portals 45–120; good corners 100–300 | Portals + Rajiv; wide variance by access/parking |
| Prime malls | ~826, 98% occupancy | JLL Q2 2025 (context only) |

**Consequence:** at AED 1.2M cap ÷ ~400/sq ft, every brand-safe corridor yields ~3,000 sq ft. Only Al Quoz gives 4,000–6,000 sq ft within budget. Occupancy check: 1.2M ≈ 16% of Shopify-recorded revenue (upper edge of healthy); 2M ≈ 27% (outlier).

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## 5. Corrections log (so the successor doesn't repeat superseded numbers)

1. Landlord renewal ask is **AED 2M**, not the 2.4M in the original strategy doc.
2. **"Umm Suqeim" means Umm Suqeim ROAD** (Al Barsha 2 corridor, between Al Barsha and Al Quoz) — not the coastal villa district. Early analysis and portal rent data (~80–200) referred to the wrong area.
3. Portal-derived Jumeirah rents (100–200/sq ft) are wrong on the ground — real asks ≈ 400/sq ft at 2,500–3,000 sq ft.
4. Early report estimates of 4,000–5,000 sq ft SZR at 0.8–1.4M were wrong — no such supply.
5. "Collectic" in the original discussion = **Klekktic** (verified Al Quoz custom-furniture brand).
6. The 4,000 sq ft minimum-size threshold from the strategy doc is under challenge from the sales data: sofas = 3.9% of revenue, so a 3,000 sq ft mattress-led flagship matches the mix. **Dropping kitchens is the real trade-off and needs an explicit yes/no from Nish and Rajiv.**

## 6. Positions of the principals (for context)

- **Rajiv:** SZR "means something"; Al Quoz risks devaluing a premium natural/sustainable brand whose average ticket is above market; Al Quoz's winners spend on PR/designers/influencers, which Huxberry doesn't; budget hard cap AED 1.2M. (Full statement in the strategy doc, "Rajiv's input" section.)
- **The original strategy doc (from the Nish discussion):** destination-retail hypothesis — differentiated organic proposition may not need passing traffic; test with customer-origin data, demand tests, and unit economics rather than assume. Explicitly warns against both "keep SZR for the name" and "choose Al Quoz for the rent."

## 7. Exact next actions (in order)

1. **Broker sweep — Umm Suqeim Road / Al Barsha 2** (THE deciding variable): every available or upcoming 2,500–3,500 sq ft showroom unit; asking rent, service charges, parking, frontage, handover timing. Include upcoming vacancies, not just listings.
2. **Shortlist SZR small-format units at the 3,000 sq ft end** (~AED 1M), prioritizing Interchanges 2–4 near Hästens/Bed Quarter.
3. **3,000 sq ft layout exercise:** can the mattress+bed assortment story work at that size (no kitchens, minimal sofas)? Get the explicit kitchens decision.
4. **Landlord negotiation:** once one signable alternative exists, offer AED 1.2M take-it-or-leave-it for the current 5,000 sq ft.
5. **Geo-targeted demand test** (from the strategy doc): identical landing pages "Huxberry Flagship Showroom — [corridor]" per shortlisted corridor; measure appointment requests + map-direction clicks, not impressions.
6. **Data tasks:** classify the AED 4.0M custom-keyed Shopify revenue via NetSuite; verify occupancy ratio against full company revenue; pull full-year customer origins from delivery records.
7. **Verify remaining unconfirmed items:** CarpetLand on Umm Suqeim Rd; Umm Suqeim Rd asking rents; Maison Lamassu location (single-source); Al Quoz "rents tripled" claim (blog-grade source).

## 8. What NOT to redo

- Brand-location mapping (§4.1–4.2) — verified with sources; only re-verify if >6 months old.
- Product-mix and channel analysis — done; only extend via the NetSuite classification task.
- District drive-time analysis — settled: geography doesn't differentiate the candidates.
- The Al Quoz assessment — parked with clear revisit conditions (flagship secured + relationship-marketing capability exists + Creative Zone matured).