Astore-within-a-store, also referred to asstore-in-store (North America) orshop-in-shop (U.K. et al.), refers to a space within a larger retail store, designated for use by a specific brand to feature its products, clearly branded with signs and other branding elements like color, materials, layout, etc. Such a space may be a section of the main area of the store, or it may have the form of an enclosed store with "walls" an entrance, much like a store in a shopping mall. Stores-within-stores are particularly common in Europe and Asia.^[1]

Varieties of the store-in-store concept include:^[2]

• Branded boutiques: Larger retail stores may allocate space for a specific brand to set up a distinct section of their main sales floor or a separate, walled-off boutique with a distinct entrance, within their store. This allows the brand to create a unique and immersive shopping experience for its customers.
• Sub-brands of the same retailer: The store-in-store may be owned and operated by the same retailer, with a sub-brand aiming to create an identity for a department aimed at a specific sub-market or unusual collection of merchandise, such asEl Corte Inglés department stores' "Mini Home" area for children's furniture and home decor,^[3] or a "Macy's Backstage" discount store-in-store within a Macy's department store.^[4]
• Complementary products: Retailers may collaborate with other businesses or brands to showcase complementary products, such as a brand of coffee near the small appliances area where coffeemakers are sold. Or a grocery store chain – whose core business is not serving coffee and food for consumption on premises — may decide to place coffee shops of a certain brand within a number of its locations.
• Pop-Up Shops: Temporary or seasonal setups within a larger store to create customer awareness, to test new markets, and/or to promote specific products for a limited time, such as sunscreen or beachwear in the summer, or a Christmas boutique in the autumn.

The "store in store" concept allows brands to leverage the existing customer traffic of a larger retail space, while the hosting store benefits from offering a diverse range of products and experiences to its customers. A study by academics from theWharton School found that the arrangement works because the retailer offers prime locations for which it can charge high rents, the manufacturer makes a higher profit than it would through a wholesale model, and the consumer gets a lower price and better service. The operator of the store-within-a-store can provide these benefits because it receives all profits, instead of having to share them with the retailer, as it would in the traditional split between manufacturer and retailer activities. The study also found that the arrangement works best for relatively non-substitutable goods, likecosmetics and brand fashions.^[5][6]

Cosmetics and fragrance departments in department stores are usually in the form of counters dedicated to a single brand.

Flagship high-end department stores such asEl Palacio de Hierro Polanco inMexico City,De Bijenkorf inAmsterdam andEl Corte Inglés Castellana inMadrid dedicate a half-floor or entire floor of their store to branded boutiques of clothing, accessory, cosmetics, and other high-end or luxury brands. Such a large area of individual boutiques has more the appearance of a shopping mall than a traditional department store.^[7] Any similarity in procedures and policies versus the main store may be limited to certain functions such as accepting the host store's credit card, keeping the same opening hours, etc. Personnel may be hired by the brand, and then may or may not be employees of the host store, even if they have a security badge issued by the host store.^[2] In fact, some department stores such asIllum inCopenhagen,Denmark, have transformed all their space into such boutiques, making them, technically, shopping malls.^[8]

More department stores have sections dedicated to brands within the main shopping area of the store. The U.S. department storeBloomingdale's has had such arrangements withRalph Lauren,Calvin Klein,DKNY andKenneth Cole, whileNeiman Marcus has had them withArmani andGucci.^{[citation needed]} FormerJCPenney CEORon Johnson focused on the concept in the 2010s, withLiz Claiborne andLevi's sections in the chain's stores.^[9]

U.S. variety storeFive Below which became known for selling products at 5 dollars and under, has been successful up through 2023 with their Five Beyond store-within-a-store concept, which sells items priced above 5 dollars, and expanded it to 400 locations.^[10]

In 2022 there were about 6000 Starbucks licensed stores, which included those located inside of supermarkets of the chainsKroger,Hy-Vee andPublix, as well as those inside gas stations, hotels, hospitals and airports.^[11]

About 1,800 (as of early 2024)Targethypermarkets (superstores) in the U.S. feature a large section branded asCVS Pharmacy selling medicine and personal care products. CVS had acquired Target's pharmacy business in 2015 for about 1.9 billion USD. Target also has design, creative and store-in-store partnerships with brands like Apple, Disney and Starbucks.^[12]

In 2001,Posten Norge, the Norwegian postal service, began to move away from standalone post offices toPost i butikk ('Post in store') stores located in grocery stores.^[13]

Electronics store chains similarly use store-within-a-store concepts. In 1997 under interim CEOSteve Jobs,Apple Computer began a partnership withCompUSA to establish dedicated departments for its products, which would showcaseMacintosh computers, software, and accessories, and be staffed by Apple-trained employees and representatives. Apple had phased out its retail agreements with other big box stores in favor of the CompUSA agreement, dissatisfied with their neglect of the products in favor ofMicrosoft Windows-basedPCs with lowermargins.^[14][15][16] Since the early 2010s,Best Buy has extensively used the concept for major vendors such as Apple,Samsung Electronics,Google, andMicrosoft (whose agreement called for the entirety of their PC departments to be branded as "the Windows Store", showcasing OEM devices alongside Microsoft hardware such asSurface andXbox).^[17][18][19]

Canada Post has post office locations located in some drug stores.^[20]