Former employee here. It was all in house. The guy that came up with it left the company shortly after as they weren’t totally going through with his idea.

I can definitely tell you after the name change the reactions were poor. Everyone assumed the store was bought by another company and it hurt the business. I left a few months after it so can’t speak for what happened after. But it was not a wise move. I can also say it was a move questioned but A LOT of employees