My experience and what I also believe to be 100% accurate since I have both a corporate and a franchise store by me and a very LARGE store credit with a Corp store. I shop at both stores so I constantly hear this...
1. Corporate stores do not share their stock with franchise store (vise versa)
2. Corporate stores can't even log in to see if a franchise store has a specific item in stock (only the 800 number can)
3. If you shop with a franchise store, your information will not be shared on the main database computer of the corporate stores.
4. Franchise stores will not accept a store credit from a Corp store (vice versa)
5. Franchise store prices are a bit (tiny) different (higher) than a Corp store.
And finally yes! You can buy into Hermes franchise..... BUT! Only the chairman of Hermes can approve it.