Warby Parker to open stand-alone store in Nashville
8-19-15
Warby Parker, the New York City-based eyewear company, appears to be moving toward opening a stand-alone retail store in Nashville.
NEW BUSINESS in EDGEHILL NASHVILLE
A building permit filed today shows $15,000 worth of rehab work to be done for a new tenant, Warby Parker, located in Edgehill Village. A retail store would be another indicator of the $1.2 billion fashion company’s continued interest in Nashville as a place to do business and of the city’s changing retail landscape.
Last fall, Warby Parker announced that it would open a corporate office in Nashville, adding 250 jobs locally. Economic development officials consider the recruitment a coup for the city and a potential game-changer, given the company’s clout and caliber in fashion and tech, as well as its global consumer recognition.
“With any corporate relocation, whether it’s of this caliber or any, I think other companies that are similar to this take notice,” said Courtney Ross, chief economic development officer at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, at the time.
Though it started as an online, direct-to-consumer brand, Warby Parker has been expanding its brick-and-mortar retail presence, starting with store-in-store displays in like-minded retailers. In Nashville, for example, they currently sell eyeglasses out of 12South’s Imogene + Willie. The company recently raised $100 million to expand stand alone retail locations. According to TechCruch, the company wants to expand from from 12 to 20 retail locations by year’s end.
Read the rest of the Story at —-> The Nashville Business Journal
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