Warby Parker Inc. is headed toward the bull’s-eye and opening shops-in-shop in Target stores.
The partnership starts with five shops set to open in the second half in Willowbrook, Ill.; Bloomington, Minn.; Brick, N.J.; Columbus, Ohio, and Exton, Pa. — Target locations that do not currently have optical offerings.
Warby Parker will also show up on target.com once the shops start opening. The partnership is then expected to grow with more shops in 2026.
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Target has long been a keen collaborator and expanding with new brands, for instance by adding in Levi’s Red Tab products in recent years. The retailer has already been growing in optical, offering a range of products and services at more than 500 of the nearly 2,000 Target stores.
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Christina Hennington, executive vice president and chief strategy and growth officer at Target, said in a statement: “Warby Parker at Target reflects both brands’ commitment to style, affordability, quality and convenience. As we test and learn with this new partnership — bringing Warby Parker’s expertise into select stores — we’re enticing new consumers to discover more of Target.”
Warby Parker started as a digital darling disrupting the habit-worn world of eyeglasses, but evolved into an omnichannel business with 276 of its own stores. The company went public in 2021.
Neil Blumenthal, cofounder, co-chief executive officer and co-chairman of Warby Parker, told analysts on a conference call: “Target is renowned for its customer centricity, and we’ve known the team for many years now.
“We tend to look at everything through a strategic lens — and we love optical puns — but strategic lens of what’s best for the customer,” Blumenthal said. “And Target being guest-focused and sharing that commitment to always doing right by their customers and creating exceptional value and great customer experiences made it a perfect fit for us.
“We feel through these shops-in-shop, which will be managed and run by Warby employees, we will continue to deliver the specialized customer experiences that we’re known for,” he said. “We’re going to learn a lot in this first year as we open five stores. So, we’re looking forward to this.”
Warby Parker also weighed in with its financial results for 2024.
Net losses for the year narrowed to $20.4 million from $63.2 million in 2023. And adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 39.8 percent to $73.1 million from $52.3 million.
Revenues for the year ended Dec. 31 increased 15.2 percent to $771.3 million from $669.8 million.
This year, Warby Parker expects its revenues to grow by 14 to 16 percent with adjusted EBITDA of $97 million at the midpoint of that range.
Dave Gilboa, cofounder and co-CEO, told analysts the company logged its second consecutive year of “accelerated revenue growth by opening 41 new stores and maintaining our industry-leading unit economics while driving positive e-commerce growth for the first time since 2021.”
The company celebrated 15 years in business this month and is, ahem, looking ahead to the next 15 years.
Gilboa said said there are “tremendous tailwinds” in the category with half the world’s population seen needing to correct their vision by 2050 given the rise of nearsightedness.
“Despite lower-than-usual growth in the optical industry over the last few years, our team has proven that our brand, product assortment, omnichannel offering, and value proposition resonate across all market conditions,” he said. “And we believe we are as well-positioned as ever to continue taking share and leading with innovation for years to come.”
This year, the company plans to open 45 of its own stores to keep sales growth up and drive awareness.