Experience strategy
Defining how a customer, guest or visitor should feel, then the operations that make it repeatable at scale.
Clarity at the moment
of change.
An experience strategy studio led by Jarrett Reed. The studio helps leaders make confident, high-stakes decisions at the intersection of brand, culture and experience.
Point of view
The most expensive decisions are made before the work begins.
Experience is an operating decision, not a finishing touch.
Places carry memory. Honor it, and people return.
I work at moments of transition, when the system is big, the variables are many and the cost of getting it wrong is real. My role is to create clarity and conviction before action begins.
The Studio
Strategy with a sense of place.
Place and space
Adaptive reuse, placemaking and store or venue concepts that honor what a place already means.
Brand transformation
Repositioning and rebrands for institutions with history, from national programs to family-owned landmarks.
Decision support
Senior counsel for leaders facing a complex, consequential call, with clarity before commitment.
How an engagement runs
- 01
Listen: the decision, its constraints and what success looks like.
- 02
Frame: a focused engagement shaped to the moment, not a fixed menu.
- 03
Decide: alignment and a clear point of view before execution begins.
Engagements range from focused strategy sprints to long-term advisory partnerships. Intentionally small and senior-led; trusted collaborators join when the work calls for it.
Selected work
Four places, four moments of change.
Adaptive reuse
Brooklyn Target
A landmark theater that had to become a store without losing itself.
Led the transformation of a landmark Brooklyn theater into a modern retail experience, balancing preservation, community engagement and operational performance. Adaptive reuse that honors local history while delivering a commercially viable, future-ready store.
My roleExperience strategy and design lead.
National remodel
Starbucks at Target
Hundreds of cafés, one guest expectation.
Led the strategy and experience design for a national remodel of the Starbucks-at-Target portfolio, aligning brand, operations and guest expectations at scale. The program modernized the café experience while improving throughput, consistency and long-term flexibility across hundreds of locations.
My roleStrategy and experience design lead.
Community rebuild
Lake Street, Minneapolis
Reopening was not enough; trust had to be rebuilt.
Partnered with community stakeholders to reimagine the Lake Street store after the civil unrest, using community art and murals as anchors for healing, identity and renewal. Retail reframed as a platform for cultural restoration, not just reopening.
My roleStrategy lead and community partner.
Rebrand and remodel
QUANG
A multi-generational Vietnamese institution, modernized without dilution.
Led the rebrand and physical transformation of QUANG, a family-owned restaurant deeply rooted in Minneapolis. The work honored legacy while modernizing the space and brand, proof that cultural authenticity and contemporary design can coexist.
My roleRebrand and remodel lead.
Places, spaces and brands
Jarrett Reed
Twenty years inside the system. Now on your side of the table.
I spent more than twenty years at Target Corporation, most recently as a Senior Director, leading experience, brand and store programs with more than $700 million in enterprise impact. Before that, I was a consultant at Deloitte. Today I lead The Gilded Rooster, bringing that operator's perspective to leaders facing their own moments of change: retailers, cultural institutions, civic organizations and family businesses.
- Experience
- 20+ years at Target Corporation, Senior Director
- Impact
- $700M+ in enterprise impact
- Consulting
- Deloitte Consulting
- Board
- Hennepin Arts, board member and Guest Experience Committee chair
- Civic
- Springboard for the Arts, civic leadership
Also partner at thursday. and co-founder of PinkSlipped.
The Stage
Keynotes, conversations and rooms that actually talk.
I speak and moderate on experience, reinvention and the decisions organizations make at moments of change.
Clarity at the Moment of Change
How leaders make high-stakes experience decisions when the ground is moving.
Places That Hold Memory
Adaptive reuse, community and trust, told through Brooklyn and Lake Street.
The Untitled Doer
Reinvention after two decades inside a Fortune 50 company: identity, work and what comes next.
Keynote
One signature talk, tailored to the audience.
Moderator and fireside host
Prep calls with panelists, a tight run of show, a room that talks.
Panelist
A distinct point of view on experience, retail, civic life and change.
Workshop and offsite
Facilitated sessions for leadership teams, built on the studio's method.
Advisory session
A working session with your leadership team on one decision.
Highlight reel coming soon
The Counsel
A seat at the table, before the decision is made.
Beyond projects, I serve leaders and boards in standing advisory roles focused on experience, culture and long-term direction: board seats, advisory councils and fractional senior counsel for organizations at an inflection point.
[Calendly link]
Board and advisory council seats
Fractional senior counsel
Executive working sessions
Inquire
Tell me about the moment you're in.
Share a little context and I'll respond personally within two business days.
Prefer email?jarrett@thegildedrooster.com