Draw the opening calendar before the press release does.

Store Opening Signals watches the parking lots and exteriors of the sites on your pipeline list and flags each month which ones are showing signs of opening.

Join the pilot listHow the flag works
GSD
≤0.3 m (VHR)
Cadence
Monthly
Platform
VHR satellite / aerial
Spectral
RGB
Schematic storefront elevation: a new retail unit with a pylon sign, a roof sign going up, a box truck parked beside it and freshly painted stalls in front, with callouts 1 to 3 on the striping, the signage and the fit-out traffic. UNIT ELEVATION · NOT TO SCALEPARKING LOT · PLAN123
Fig. 1Schematic, not imagery. The three exterior signs the flag reads on a site:
  1. Striping
  2. Signage install
  3. Fit-out traffic

01The job today

Guessing at the gap between signed and open

Your pipeline sheet says a site is signed, or permitted, or in construction. Then it says nothing useful for a long stretch. If you are on the franchisor side, the coordinator updates the status from calls with franchisees and general contractors, and a unit can sit in sold but not opened while its fit-out runs or while it quietly stalls. If you supply fixtures, signage or opening-day stock, you have less than that. You have retailer press releases, earnings-call store counts, the permit board and a broker's listing, and a rep who phones the store manager and hears "sometime next quarter."

That is the moment it costs money. A fixture order goes in early and sits. A crew is booked for a site that slips. A rep never calls a site that opens earlier than anyone said, and the competitor's rep does. Nobody outside the build can tell which sites are moving, and part of the answer is visible from above the parking lot: fresh striping, work trucks, a sign going up.

Freshly painted white stall lines on dark asphalt in an empty parking lot

Fig. 2Fresh stall lines on a parking lot, seen from the ground.

We read those exterior signs on the sites you name, once a month, and hand back a flag per site. It sharpens the calendar you already keep. It does not replace the calls.

02What you get

What comes back each month

  1. 2.1

    Readiness flag

    Per site, monthly

    One flag for each site on your list saying whether the exterior signals point toward opening. It is a status and never a date. It sits beside the status column you already keep in the pipeline sheet.

  2. 2.2

    Watchlist

    Your pipeline, tracked standing

    Your franchise or supplier pipeline list, watched every month without you resubmitting it. Add a site and it joins the next pass.

  3. 2.3

    Signal detail

    Which signal triggered

    For every flag, which of the three signals fired: striping, signage or fit-out traffic. A rep can read "striping and work trucks" and know what to ask the site contact.

03

How it works

  1. 3.1

    Your pipeline in

    You send the list of sites you track, with addresses. Say which ones your calendar is least sure about.

  2. 3.2

    Monthly pass

    We take the next available very-high-resolution satellite or aerial image over each site.

  3. 3.3

    Read

    The exterior is checked for fresh parking lot striping, a new sign going up and the vehicle traffic that goes with fit-out.

  4. 3.4

    Flag

    Each site gets a readiness flag and a note of the signal behind it. A site under cloud is carried to the next clear pass and marked as such.

04Where it fits

Feeds the opening calendar, not the lease file

Use the flag as an early nudge. A site that flips from quiet to striping-and-trucks goes to the front of the call list, or gets its outreach, staffing or supply plan started earlier than the press release would allow. A site that stays quiet stays on the sheet with the status you already have. Confirm with the franchisee, the contractor or the site contact before you commit money, and treat the calendar date as yours to set.

05

Limits

  1. L1

    Resolution

    At 0.3 m a pixel is wider than the paint line it is looking at. Fresh striping shows up as a change in the pattern of the parking lot, with no individual lines to count. Small sites, single-tenant pads with little parking and lots under trees give the flag less to read.

  2. L2

    Signs from above

    Satellite and aerial images look straight down. A sign on the front of the building faces sideways and is mostly invisible. A pylon or monument sign, or a rooftop one, shows in part. Treat signage as the weakest of the three signals.

  3. L3

    Exterior only

    Interior fit-out cannot be seen from above. A site fitting out indoors with a finished exterior can look quiet right up to opening.

  4. L4

    Cadence and cloud

    Monthly means the next clear pass. A cloudy month carries the flag forward instead of guessing, so a change can reach you a pass late.

  5. L5

    A flag, not a date

    The output never says when a site opens, and it is not a confirmed launch. Openings slip for permits and inspections that leave no mark on the exterior.

  6. L6

    Small independent locations

    A single small independent unit can fall below what imagery shows reliably. Tell us what you track and we will say whether it is worth a pass.

06

Who it's for

For

  • Franchise development managers and coordinators who need a second read on sold-but-not-opened units.
  • Supplier field reps and sales directors who build a new-store target list for fixtures, signage, equipment or opening-day stock.
  • Location analysts who keep the pipeline sheet and want a leading signal to sit in it.

Not for

  • Buyers who need a confirmed opening date or a launch guarantee.
  • Buyers who need to see inside the unit: interior fit-out, staffing or stocking.
  • Buyers whose pipeline is mostly small independent shops.
  • Lease negotiation, site selection or trade-area analysis. This starts after the site is chosen.

07FAQ

Questions before you join

Q01Does this give an exact opening date?

No. It gives a readiness flag per site and the signal behind it. Dates come from your franchisee, your contractor or the retailer.

Q02How soon after fit-out starts would we see it?

At the next monthly pass, if the imagery is clear. That pass may catch striping or work traffic, and it may not if the work is all indoors.

Q03What about interior-only fit-out?

We cannot see it. The signal is exterior: striping, signage and vehicle traffic. A site with a finished exterior can look quiet while the inside is nearly done.

Q04What happens in a cloudy month?

The flag carries over to the next clear pass and is marked as carried, so you know it is not a fresh read.

Q05Can it read small independent locations?

Not reliably. The smaller the lot and the building, the less the imagery shows. Tell us what you track and we will say so plainly.

Q06How do we check it against our own pipeline?

Give us a set of sites whose status you already know and keep those statuses to yourself. Compare our flags with what you know, and decide whether it is worth adding to the sheet.

Q07Will it fit into our pipeline sheet or CRM?

The flag comes as a list keyed to your site addresses, which a spreadsheet or CRM import can take. We do not write into your system.

Q08Who owns the results and the imagery?

Ownership and licence terms for the flags and the imagery are set out before anything starts. Ask for them early if a lawyer needs to see them.

Q09How is it priced?

The pilot is scoped to the size of your pipeline list and the imagery source. There is no price on this page. Join the pilot list and we will talk it through.

08

Put your pipeline on watch.

Send us the kind of sites you track and roughly how many. We will tell you whether the imagery can read them.

Join the pilot list