Studio McGee began with Shea McGee sharing a spare-bedroom redesign online. The audience that gathered around her work grew into design services, a media company, licensing, and an ecommerce business on Shopify that now anchors a $100 million-plus home brand. After more than 10 years of selling online, Studio McGee is now bringing that designer-led experience into their first owned retail store in Salt Lake City, powered by Shopify POS.
With Shopify, Studio McGee has:
- More than $100 million in consolidated revenue, led by the ecommerce business
- More than 1 million orders across McGee & Co.
- A 325,000-square-foot fulfillment center supporting global sourcing and home furnishings delivery
- A first 7,500-square-foot store opening in Salt Lake City,powered by Shopify POS
- AI-assisted catalog management and merchandising workflowsthrough Shopify Sidekick
From a spare bedroom to ecommerce on Shopify
Shea McGee wanted to become an interior designer, but she initially thought the career required drawing skills she lacked. After studying communications and working in public relations, she returned to school for interior design and discovered computer-aided design tools. She began by redesigning a spare bedroom, photographing the work, and sharing it on Instagram as the platform was growing.
Shea also shared the decisions behind each room. When followers asked about a paint color, material, or where she found a piece, she answered. That transparency helped people learn from her work and gave them the confidence to apply her approach in their own homes. Growing interest from that audience led to paid design projects, and her partner, Syd McGee saw an opportunity to add products. The couple launched McGee & Co. on Shopify in 2016.
We’ve grown from zero to a hundred-million-dollar-plus company on Shopify — our platform from day one.
McGee & Co. now accounts for most of Studio McGee’s revenue.
Building a brand through media, content, and community
Studio McGee also expanded across interior design, licensing, and media. Studio McGee by Threshold brought furniture and decor to Target, while collaborations with Kohler, Ann Sacks, The Shade Store, and Pura extended the brand into kitchen and bath fixtures, tile, custom window treatments, and home fragrance.
Dream Home Makeover brought the brand to an even wider audience when it launched on Netflix, while Shea’s books Make Life Beautiful, The Art of Home, and Around the Table brought her design philosophy into people’s homes .
After four seasons on Netflix, Studio McGee shifted original programming to their owned property, Studio McGee TV on YouTube, where design projects, styling guidance, and previews of McGee & Co. collections live together.
Studio McGee describes their model as content, community, and commerce. People follow Shea’s work across social media, YouTube, email, text messages, and Studio McGee’s websites. The content shows the finished rooms, but it also explains the choices and problem-solving behind them. Over time, that access builds familiarity with Shea’s aesthetic and trust in her recommendations.
The Oxford Road Estate series is one example. Studio McGee documented the multiyear custom home project as an episodic YouTube series, following the work from design decisions through installation and the final reveal. The series shows the scale of the finished home, alongside Shea and the broader team as they solve the practical design questions that shape it.
I watch it, and I work in the company every day. It’s fun to sit back and say, ‘Oh, our team did that.
Studio McGee wants people to experience the brand through content first. That material continues to support customers after they begin shopping, with guides on choosing rugs, planning window treatments, hanging artwork, and styling a room. Customer experience teams can direct shoppers to the right resource, while community feedback informs new products and services.
Bringing the design experience online
Asking customers to make a high-consideration decision without touching a fabric, sitting on a sofa, or seeing its scale in a room is a challenge, but McGee & Co. brings that experience into the online storefront through high-resolution photography, company-owned studios, set design, product configuration, and design education.
On the Lucille English Roll Arm Sofa 78 product page, shoppers can choose a size and fabric, zoom in on material details, and request free swatches before ordering. Embedded technology powers 360-degree and 3D product views that update as shoppers change configurations, along with augmented reality that places the sofa in a room. The Style Quiz helps customers narrow the collection, while room-by-room guidance helps them move from choosing one piece to furnishing a complete space.
McGee & Co. brings the same service into their Designer Trade Program. Interior designers receive tiered discounts, material swatches, consultation, and a dedicated escalation path. Studio McGee built the program around what their own interior design team needs to serve clients reliably.
With Shopify, McGee & Co. can serve our customers in a way that we couldn’t do otherwise. It offers us an expansive reach to customers who may never have the ability to visit one of our retail stores.
Taking control of product and fulfillment
As the product business grew alongside their audience, Studio McGee invested in the operation behind them. In 2021, the company raised outside capital to develop more exclusive products. At the time, about 90% of the products on the website came from outside vendors. Today, McGee & Co.’s products account for about 80% of their product revenue, giving the team greater control over product design, margins, fulfillment, and the customer experience.
McGee & Co. nowfoot distribution center in Salt Lake City. The operation supports ready-to-ship products as well as made-to-order furniture with longer lead times. Home furnishings also require the company to commit cash to products, freight, and tariffs months before many items sell
During COVID-19, container costs rose from $3,000 to $30,000. Tariffs remain due when goods enter the country, while inventory may not sell for another three, six, or nine months. Studio McGee navigates those cycles through diversified revenue from interior design and licensing, a global sourcing network, and experienced leaders across retail, product development, and sourcing. Media continues to build the brand while the operating team applies lessons from established home retailers.
Growing the operating model with Shopify
Studio McGee paired their product and fulfillment investment with the commerce expertise available through Shopify. The partnership gave the team access to platform knowledge for running a scaled ecommerce business while they continued to deepen product development, sourcing, and fulfillment.
McGee & Co.’s web operations team uses Shopify Sidekick and Shopify Flow to manage catalog quality, automate product tagging, and surface merchandising insights across search performance, inventory, fulfillment, and customer segments. The team treats Sidekick as an operational partner — connecting product data with the way customers discover and evaluate home furnishings.
Taking content, community, and commerce into retail
After more than 10 years of learning what customers buy online and building the supply chain to serve them, Studio McGee is preparing to open their first owned retail store at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City. The 7,500-square-foot location will combine products customers can take home with a showroom for made-to-order furniture. Shoppers will be able to sit on a sofa, compare fabrics, customize configurations, and have the finished piece delivered from McGee & Co.’s fulfillment center.
Shopify is the backbone of our customer transaction platform.
Studio McGee uses geographic heat maps of customer concentration to evaluate future store locations. They also expect each store to increase ecommerce activity in the surrounding market. Shopify POS will connect the transaction layer as the company extends the experience from content to ecommerce and physical retail.
Becoming the next great home brand
Retail is the next expression of Studio McGee’s designer-led model. The company is building toward a national retail footprint, continued investment in exclusive products, and deeper integration between content, ecommerce, and physical stores — all on Shopify. With experienced retail, product development, sourcing, and operations leaders now in place, Studio McGee is entering the next stage of growth with the infrastructure to support it.
We want to be the next great home brand.
