How Retail Architect Virginia Maggiore Stays Ahead of Multi-Site Rollouts

In retail, timing is everything. Opening stores on schedule can be the difference between hitting quarterly goals, or missing them entirely.

In the past we've explored the cost of store opening delays for retail teams, and Virginia Maggiore, Principal of Store Planning at RDC, knows this better than anyone. Her team isn’t just designing store interiors, they’re building systems that keep their clients moving at retail speed.

Her title is telling of her unique approach: “I've specifically named the department ‘Store Planning’ when I joined RDC. We make paper plans, but really it's the planning effort that goes behind getting a store open for a client, being two or three steps ahead the whole time.”

In this episode of Permission to Build, we sit down with Virginia to explore what it takes to serve fast-moving retail clients, and how RDC’s partnership with Pulley enables her team to improve efficiency, accuracy, and visibility for her clients.

Retail Architecture Runs on Speed and Precision

Retail moves fast and demands agility from everyone involved. With over two decades in the industry and experience in-house at companies like Guess, Coach, and more, Virginia knows exactly what it takes to get a store open fast. Her team specializes in helping retailers launch functional, scalable, and brand-consistent stores.

This is a world where foresight is a requirement, in order to meet high expectations. “ We move at such a fast speed in retail that you can't wait until the day something's going out to find out that you didn't procure a report,” Virginia explains. “We constantly have to plan proactively—never reactionary.”

Seeing the “Whole Pathway” to Store Openings

Virginia’s experience working at large retail brands has given her a critical perspective: understanding how architecture fits into a much bigger picture of how stores open on time and within budget. “I can see the whole pathway, from signing an LOI and finding that space through to bidding the project out and finding the general contractor. I really understand the speed, time is money, and opening dates are hard dates that we need to meet.”

Designing for Scale with a “Kit of Parts”

Most retail brands are focused on scale and rolling out multiple stores at once. That brings on a particular challenge: no two sites are ever exactly the same. That’s where Virginia’s team leans into scalable, modular design, or what she calls a “kit of parts.”

She explains, “You create these elements in the prototype that are the kit of parts, and when we get new real estate, we can take those parts and that kit and mock it up so that brand has consistency each time.” Leading with a ‘kit of parts’ helps control what matters most to retail clients: “It helps control speed and costs.”

Better Permitting Strategy Starts with Architects

Permitting is one of the biggest risks to any store opening, and often one of the least predictable. Architects have long played a critical part in the process. Traditionally, most of them have handled acquiring permit approvals for their clients. It’s their designs getting approved by reviewers, and they have extremely technical knowledge of codes and requirements.

The same applies for Virginia’s team: they have plenty of experience navigating the hurdles involved in the process.

Subjective Code Interpretation

One common challenge is the subjectivity of code interpretation. Building codes may sound black and white, but they’re often subject to personal interpretation. A plumbing calc that passes in one California jurisdiction might trigger a costly change in another, even if they’re meeting the same code. Approvals come from reviewers, and reviewers are human at the end of the day. “You have to go with what the guy reviewing your plans says,” Virginia says. “Even if you’ve never heard that interpretation before.”

Change of Use Confusion

Change of use is one of the most common (and expensive) permitting surprises for retail clients. Even if a previous tenant of a site was a retailer, you have to be cautious. If the site’s official use doesn’t match the new tenant's use, the project could face weeks of delays, or worse, become unviable.

Virginia has seen it firsthand: “I’ve had clients sign a lease for a space that had a popup retailer in it, only to find out it was technically a synagogue, and the city wouldn’t approve it for permanent retail use.” Due diligence is critical for this reason. Even something small, like a one-step entry or a shared wall, can trigger significant upgrades and use changes.

Download Pulley's Guide to Tenant Improvements to learn about navigating "change of use" and other scenarios.

The Right Permitting Partner Makes Scale Possible

Retail brands expand across dozens of cities and jurisdictions, each with their own codes, reviewers, and processes. Without a consistent permitting strategy, even the best design and construction teams run into delays.

Virginia emphasizes consolidating vendors and establishing repeatable permitting processes early. “You can’t hire a different architect or expediter in every city and expect to move fast. It adds friction. It adds time.”

Working with a permitting vendor like Pulley gives RDC’s team a consistent playbook, jurisdiction-specific expertise, and reliable timelines: all critical tools for when clients are opening fleets of stores each year.

Partners that Match the Pace of Retail

Virginia is clear about what she expects from her team and her partners: accuracy, consistency, and clarity. That’s what Pulley aims to provide.

“The due diligence we get from Pulley is some of the best we’ve ever gotten,” she says.

Pulley’s permitting platform gives her team and clients one place to track status across multiple projects, which means no more digging through email threads or text updates.

“It’s exactly what this industry needed,” she says. “A clean, centralized source of truth.”

And because most of Pulley’s project managers come from an architecture background, there’s a natural alignment in how the two teams work, think, and communicate.

Retail Moves Fast, and Great Teams Move Together

Speed in retail isn’t just about reacting quickly. It’s about planning with precision, building scalable systems, and collaborating with people who understand what’s at stake.

Virginia Maggiore and her team at RDC aren’t just delivering beautiful stores. They’re delivering durable processes that let brands scale with confidence. And with permitting support from Pulley, they’re unlocking even more speed, predictability, and clarity at every stage.

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