How CEO Gary Friedman Built Restoration Hardware Into RH, a Luxury-Brand Juggernaut

A transformation 20 years in the making

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In early June, much of the country was beginning to emerge from its pandemic-induced hibernation—cars creeping back on to roads, restaurants moving tables outside and, of course, stores opening their doors. 

But while most retailers were shifting their focus to reconfiguring their existing stores to the new realities of the Covid-19 era, RH—previously known as Restoration Hardware—took a different approach.

In an annual letter that Gary Friedman, RH’s CEO, wrote to shareholders, he laid out the brand’s plans not just for the next year, but for its next chapter: opening new stores (or galleries, as RH calls them), expanding into the travel sphere (with RH-branded guest houses and a yacht), and entering the residential real estate market with RH Residences. 

It was a bold blueprint at a time when the industry has seen five years’ worth of ecommerce growth in mere months. 

“We

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This story first appeared in the Sept. 21, 2020, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.