Eyewear seller Warby Parker is joining a growing group of retailers that are expanding their brick-and-mortar footprints by opening shops within other chains' stores.
New York-based Warby Parker, a digital native firm that now has 276 physical retail locations, will be rolling out so-called shop-in-shops at Target stores. The first five trial locations, which will be staffed by Warby Parker employees, are slated to debut in the second half of the year. There are plans to open more in 2026.
"Warby Parker's mission has been to provide vision for all," Dave Gilboa, the retailer's co-founder and co-CEO, said in a statement. "A big part of that commitment means meeting eyewear consumers where and how they want to shop — and for many of our customers, that means shopping at Target."
A shop-in-shop is a small store within a bigger store where a specific brand sells its products. These dedicated selling areas have their own identities using signage, colors and layouts to distinguish them from the store that's hosting them. The concept allows the shop-in-shop retailers to extend their reach beyond their own stores geographically — without opening more standalone stores — and to tap into new customer bases. For the host retailer, the shop-in-shops can also draw new kinds of shoppers to its locations and increase foot traffic.
Several retailers — including Target, Macy's and Kohl's — have been aggressively teaming up with other chains on shop-in-shops. Target, the Minnesota-based discount giant, already has Ulta Beauty shops at its stores. Department store chain Kohl's has doubled down, with Sephora and Babies R Us in-store shops. And Macy's did a massive rollout of Toys R Us shop-in-shops throughout its store fleet.
The first five Warby Parker at Target shop-in-shops are slated for: Willowbrook, Illinois; Bloomington, Minnesota; Brick, New Jersey; the Polaris area of Columbus, Ohio; and Exton, Pennsylvania.
Each Warby Parker at Target shop-in-shop will offer products and services, including affordable designer-quality eyeglasses and sunglasses, contacts, eye exams and vision tests. Warby Parker eyewear will also be available on Target.com.
The discounter offers Target Optical services at more than 500 of its stores, and the Warby Parker shop-in-shops won't open in those locations.
Warby Parker discussed the partnership on a fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, but officials declined to provide additional details on the shop-in-shops. The company opened 41 new stores last year, and this year is scheduled to open 45, which includes the five Target locations.
This year's openings will "skew towards existing markets, and we believe the additional market density will help drive awareness," Gilboa said.
"The vast majority of these stores are expected to be in existing suburban market, and we plan to enter nine new markets overall," Neil Blumenthal, Warby Parker co-founder and co-CEO, said on the call. "One advantage of being a digitally native company continues to be that we're able to open stores in areas where we know our customers live and work."