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## title: Store & Brand Structure

Rendr organises your delivery operations around two entities: **brands** and **stores**.

A **brand** represents your business — the top-level entity that owns configuration, policies, and carrier credentials.

A **store** (also called a location) represents a physical fulfilment point under that brand — a warehouse, retail outlet, dark store, or any location deliveries originate from. A brand can have many stores.

Every delivery in Rendr is tied to a store, and every store belongs to a brand.

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## Configuration Inheritance

Stores inherit configuration from their parent brand by default. Shared settings — such as carrier credentials, pricing rules, and service options — only need to be defined once at the brand level and apply across all stores automatically.

Stores can override any inherited setting locally, so each location can operate with its own opening hours, timezone, and delivery options while still benefiting from centralised defaults.

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## Location Status

Every store has a status that controls whether it can accept deliveries. Stores start in a `pending` state when first created and must be activated before they go live. A store can also be disabled at any time to temporarily pause operations without removing its configuration.

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## How Deliveries Connect

When you create a delivery, it is always scoped to a specific store. That store's configuration — its opening hours, timezone, coverage area, and carrier setup — directly determines what delivery options are available at the time of booking.

You identify the store using either `store_id` (the Rendr-assigned identifier) or `store_reference` (your own internal identifier configured during onboarding). Both are accepted across delivery, quote, manifest, and allocation endpoints.

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## Why It Matters for Integration

* `store_id` or `store_reference` is required on every delivery, quote, and manifest request
* Delivery type availability, cut-off logic, and carrier allocation are all evaluated at the store level
* [Store Allocation](/documentation/key-concepts/store-allocation) queries use the store hierarchy to rank fulfilment locations by proximity and readiness
* Notification branding and tracking page appearance are configured at the brand level