How 10 Companies You Know Got Their Names

Here’s a deep dive into the genesis of well-known real estate companies and retailers, revealing the often-surprising history behind their names and origins and examining how they’ve changed and rebranded through the years. As a bonus, Commerce + Communities Today also flashes back to ICSC’s beginnings in 1957 — did you know, for instance, there were seven founders? — and examines the reasoning behind this year’s rebrand.

Big Red Rooster

History: Retail brand and strategy space veterans Aaron Spiess and Martin Beck started Big Red Rooster in 2002. In 2016, JLL acquired the multidimensional brand experience firm, which is based in Columbus.

How it got its name: For the creativity-driven organization, Beck and Spiess wanted a bold and recognizable name that would help “clients smile a little,” said co-founder and CEO Spiess. Big Red Rooster made it onto the list of possibilities, possibly because of Spiess’ upbringing as “a Northwest Ohio farm boy,” he said. Spiess and Beck liked the name because it was “fun” and “cheeky” and “we knew that someone was going to ask us what the hell is a big red rooster?’” Spiess said. It was a good conversation starter. To this day, Spiess said, “What is a big red rooster?” is the most common first or last question at meetings.

What’s in a name: In the past, Spiess could tell immediately how creative and risky the corporations they worked with wanted to be by how they referred to Big Red Rooster. Some of Spiess’ more conservative clients would refer to Big Red Rooster as BRR when in conversations with C-suite executives. Others were fine using the full name. That signified for Spiess how big and bold the agency should go in its creative proposals. “I used it as a cultural litmus test,” he said.

Rooster returns: When Big Red Rooster sold to JLL six years ago, JLL execs told Spiess they loved the name and wanted to keep it. Indeed, it is one of the only brands that JLL has acquired over the years that has maintained its identity and name, Spiess said. The logo now says: Big Red Rooster, a JLL company.

Brixmor Property Group

History: Centro Properties Group acquired several companies in 2003, which The Blackstone Group acquired in 2011. The company went public in 2013. Today, Brixmor is one of the largest owner/operators of open-air shopping centers in the U.S. with nearly 400 properties in 33 states.

How it got its name: After The Blackstone Group acquired Centro Properties Group US, the company wanted a new name, and it looked to employees via a naming contest. In just five days, 1,120 entries were submitted. After the executive team narrowed the list, the company reviewed the names for intellectual property conflicts.

The winner: The winning entry, Brixmor, is a mash-up of the words “bricks” and “mortar,” describing the company’s physical assets. Christine Shields, vice president of corporate operations, submitted the winning name. She received a cash prize and lifelong bragging rights and has since retired from Brixmor.

The Festival Cos.

History: Husband-and-wife team Mark and Rosalind Schurgin founded The Festival Cos. in 1980. Today, it's a nationally recognized developer, manager and innovator of urban infill redevelopment and ground-up shopping center development. The Festival Cos. manages and owns more than 4 million square feet of retail, has $2.5 billion in assets under management and has developed, acquired and operated 25 million square feet.

How it got its name: The company chose its name because it was a “vibrant and energetic name that conveyed the celebration of the spaces and places Festival creates within communities,” co-founder and CEO Rosalind Schurgin said.

Take 2: In March, to celebrate its 40th anniversary, The Festival Cos. rebranded. It overhauled its website and social media presence and updated its visual identity to represent the elevated feeling of celebration, vibrancy, energy and progressivism the company represents. “It’s in our DNA to evolve with intention,” said Rosalind Schurgin. For instance, The Festival Cos.’ replaced its old logo — gold lettering against a silver graphic — with a playful orange and navy palette. “The Festival Cos. is continuously innovating at the property level, so it was important to also reflect that evolution on a corporate level,” she said. The significance and resonance of the logo, though, has remained. The two circles used in the F signify “the company’s A-to-Z expertise in acquisition, development, redevelopment and operations,” she said.

Let the festivities continue: The Festival Cos. encourages its centers to be festive and establish themselves as spaces within their communities where guests can celebrate occasions from holidays to birthdays and anniversaries, Rosalind Schurgin said. A number of retailers and restaurants at Houston’s River Oaks District, for instance, celebrated National Rosé Day in June by offering rosé specials and serving rosé in the stores. And because the center also cares about safety, it partnered with a luxury rideshare platform to offer a discount on rides.

Site Centers

History: Bert Wolstein founded Site Centers in 1965 as Developers Diversified Realty. The Beachwood, Ohio, company’s focus in the early years was development of Kmart-anchored shopping centers. It went public in 1993. In 2011, it changed its name to DDR Corp. to reflect its shift away from ground-up development and its renewed focus on the management and leasing of open-air power centers. In 2018, it shifted again, this time to the development of a more curated portfolio, and changed its name to Site Centers. Vice president of corporate branding Kurt Pettit said there was a connection between the name DDR and enormous power centers at the time, but by 2018, the company had severely pared down its portfolio, focusing on premium open-air centers in high-performing ZIP codes with solid growth potential. “We wanted to make sure there was a clear distinction between what we now owned versus what we had owned in the past.”

How it got its name: When deciding on the new name, executives discussed: “What does it mean to be an open-air shopping center?” Pettit said. “Ultimately, we arrived at the consensus that our sites are, at their core, the center of communities,” hence the name Site. While Commerce + Communities Today’s editorial style is to avoid using all-capital letters for company names unless they’re acronyms, Site Centers writes its name as SITE Centers, which makes the name stand out, Pettit said. Occasionally, people do question whether SITE is an acronym; it is not. Site Centers aims to keep steady with its vision and mission. “Especially during the pandemic, open-air retail is now more essential than it was even when we rebranded,” Pettit said. “The idea of a Site center being the center of communities is now more relevant than ever before.”

Shake Shack

History: Shake Shack started as a hot dog stand in New York City’s Madison Square Park, called I Love Taxi. Restaurateur Danny Meyer, owner of Eleven Madison Park next to the park, opened the stand in 2001 to raise funds for an art installation in the park. But after seeing the strong customer demand, Meyer upgraded the cart to a kiosk in 2004 and changed the name and menu. That year was the first time Shake Shack actually offered burgers and shakes. Today, Shake Shack is a publicly traded company with locations in 26 states and 13 countries. How it got its name: The name “Shake Shack” comes from the movie Grease, according to The Motley Fool. It’s the name of the ride on which Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta performed during the song You’re The One That I Want near the end of the movie.

Rebrand: For years, Shake Shack prided itself on selling more than just burgers but a “fine casual experience.” In a 2017 interview, Meyer told CBS that drive-thru and delivery were antithetical to the Shake Shack experience. But after the pandemic, Shake Shack changed tunes, announcing it will open 10 drive-thrus in 2022. The first opened Dec. 6 in Minneapolis.

Interesting fact: Graphic designer Paula Scher created the first Shake Shack imaging for free because she was, at the time, heading a pro bono redesign of Madison Square Park’s identity, according to Fast Company. Later, she helped Shake Shack rebrand, coming up with its iconic, squiggly burger, shake and fry icon. Scher was offered a stock purchase before the public offering. “In fairness, no one had an idea of how successful [Shake Shack] would become," she told Fast Company.

SRS Real Estate Partners

History: In 1977, Roger Staubach, then quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, led his team to Super Bowl XII. In the ’70s, though, professional football player was only a part-time gig for Staubach. In his off-season, to provide a more stable income for his family, Staubach worked as a real estate broker under the tutelage of Dallas commercial real estate icon Henry Miller. In 1977, that same winning year, Staubach launched his own real estate firm, The Staubach Co. In 1986, Staubach brought on Chris Maguire to grow a new subsidiary of the company, Staubach Retail Services. In 2008, JLL purchased The Staubach Co., but Staubach Retail Services was not part of the deal. Staubach Retail Services spun off into its own entity, later changing its name to SRS Real Estate Partners.

How it got its name: The name change to SRS Real Estate Partners provided clarity that the company was separate from JLL. SRS’s internal team worked with consultants to come up with branding and a logo. “Our main focus was to let the market know that nothing had changed internally with Staubach Retail besides the name,” said Maguire, current CEO of SRS Real Estate Partners. The new name, a play on Staubach Retail Services, was “an easy decision,” he said.

The same but different: Shortly after the sale to JLL, Staubach retired from the board, and he’s no longer involved with the company. SRS is a “different company than when we started, but our core values remain the same,” said Maguire. When Staubach Retail Services was founded, it was a pioneer in retail tenant representation, and it focused exclusively on that component for the initial years. Today, it operates in 26 U.S. markets and has a full-service offering centered around both retail tenants and retail property owners.

Starbucks

History: Friends Gordon Bowker, Zev Siegl and Jerry Baldwin founded Starbucks in 1971 in Seattle. Targeted to gourmet coffee drinkers, Starbucks started off selling only coffee beans and roasting equipment. The first Starbucks to sell brewed coffee opened in 1982, the same year future chairman and CEO Howard Schultz came onboard. In 1984, Schultz convinced the owners to open a coffee shop inspired by Italian espresso bars. Schultz left to open his own coffee company and in 1987 purchased Starbucks. In 1992, Starbucks became a public company. Today, it’s the world’s largest coffeehouse chain with 33,833 stores, 15,450 of those in the U.S., according to an earnings report released in October. It operates in 83 countries, according to Starbucks’ website.

How it got its name: According to Howard Schultz's book Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, Starbucks originally was slated to be called Pequod, after Captain Ahab’s ship in the book Moby Dick. One of the partners rejected the name, though, and the friends decided on Starbucks, after Captain Ahab’s first mate, Starbuck. According to Starbucks’ website, the name “evoked the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders."

The logo: According to Starbucks’ website, the idea of a mermaid mascot came about while the founders were “scouring some old marine books” and were attracted to a drawing of a two-tailed mermaid. The mermaid has changed a bit over the years. In 1992, the year Starbucks went public, the mermaid logo was cropped to only her navel and above. In 2011, in honor of Starbucks’ 40th anniversary, the mermaid received more modern hair and the words “Starbucks Coffee” came off the logo in recognition that coffee was no longer the only focus.

Interesting fact: In 2019, Signs.com asked people to draw famous logos by memory. According to its research, 55% forgot the Starbucks mermaid’s tail, and 45% forgot her crown.

Wendy’s

History: In 1969, restaurateur Dave Thomas complained he couldn’t find a good burger in Columbus, Ohio, and thus started what would become the world’s second-largest fast-food hamburger chain.

How it got its name: Thomas named the chain after his daughter Melinda, who went by the nickname Wendy.

The logo: Having worked for KFC, where Colonel Sanders’ face appeared on every bucket of chicken, Thomas knew how important attaching a persona to a restaurant was. According to a 50th anniversary interview with Melinda published in the Wendy’s blog, The Square Deal, in 2019, Thomas asked Wendy to put her hair in pigtails for a photo, and that look became the basis for Wendy’s iconic logo: a red-headed, freckled girl with pigtails.

Change of mind: According to the blog, Thomas, on his deathbed in 2002, apologized to Melinda for naming the restaurant after her. He told her, “I should've just named it after myself because it put a lot of pressure on you.”

White Castle

History: White Castle is considered America’s first fast-food restaurant. The first White Castle opened in Wichita, Kansas, in March 1921. Co-founder Walter Anderson started a burger revolution when he smashed a meatball on his griddle, creating the first square patty, according to Mental Floss. Anderson also is credited with creating the first hamburger bun.

How it got its name: Despite what the name suggests, “White Castle” was not inspired by any royal residence. Instead, according to the book Selling ’em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food, “white” signified cleanliness and “castle” symbolized permanence and strength. At the time of opening, exposés like Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle had revealed horrific conditions in the meatpacking industry. To make sure everyone thought the restaurant’s burgers were safe, the owners painted building interiors white, and required employees to wear spotless uniforms.

Interesting fact: While White Castle started in Wichita, there currently are no White Castles in Kansas. In the 1980s, the company tried to expand into Kansas City, but the restaurants didn’t attract the same followings as it did in other cities and closed. In 1987, White Castle sliders started hitting grocery freezer cases around the country. White Castle is believed to be the first fast-food chain to offer its menu items for purchase at retail stores.

ICSC

History: The shopping center industry began in the 1950s, after President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which would enable people to build homes in suburbia. With new communities, people needed a one-stop place to which they could drive and shop for clothing, food and services without venturing into the city. Most developers that got into shopping center construction and development in the 1950s had been in other businesses — Arthur Taubman, for instance, originally built gas stations — so there was a need for people in the industry to come together and share information.

How it got its name: The International Council of Shopping Centers started in 1957 when seven shopping center developers got together in Chicago and decided to form an association. “The joke is that of the original seven, there was one Canadian, and that’s why they called it the International Council of Shopping Centers,” said ICSC executive vice president of global and corporate development Malachy Kavanagh. From the beginning, International Council of Shopping Centers was a mouthful, so members almost immediately shortened it to ICSC. No matter what a networking or educational event was officially called, such as RECon or Spring Convention, “everyone just called it ICSC,” Kavanagh said. It became a catchphrase. “People would say, ‘Are you going to ICSC?’ or ‘I’m going to ICSC, are you?’” he recounted. In July, when the organization rebranded, it maintained the name ICSC and added the tagline Innovating Commerce, Serving Communities. 

Fun fact: In a former ICSC office, a photo taken from ICSC’s second-annual gathering hung on the wall. Over the years, many have claimed to have been at that meeting in Chicago, though only about 100 people attended, Kavanagh said. “I used to joke we have more pioneers than a John Wayne movie.”

Why the change: In conducting research with members and consumers in 2019 and early 2020, ICSC found the term “shopping center” had become dated, said Kavanaugh. Indeed, the way shopping centers look and the way consumers shop — hello, omnichannel — have changed dramatically in the past 64 years. As the largest retail real estate trade association in the world, ICSC wanted its brand and name to reflect the current retail scene. The Innovating Commerce, Serving Communities tagline pays homage to ICSC’s original moniker and better encompasses the new retail environment, one in which marketplaces are often community hubs and in which organizations like technology startups and real estate providers play vital roles. Kavanagh said: “The name change was recognizing that the industry was far broader than what comes to mind if you ask someone what a shopping center is.” The goal was to reinvent the brand and by extension redefine the industry, “to promote the dynamic impact we have on the world today and position ourselves for the future,” said ICSC chief marketing and communications officer Rae Logsdon. “We wanted to honor the 65-year history of the organization, while capturing how we have evolved. Our tagline highlights the new brand vision: We are not just in the business of shopping centers, malls and main streets; we are in the business of commerce, communities and culture.”