Transcript
Alex (0:00)
Target and Warby Parker are teaming up. According to Yahoo Finance, Target Corporation and Warby Parker are partnering to bring designer quality, affordable eyewear to even more consumers through the retailers newest shop and shop, Warby Parker at Target. Each Warby Parker at Target Shop and Shop will offer products and services including glasses, sunglasses, contacts, eye exams and vision tests that are consistent with the eyewear brand's current omnichannel experience. The first five locations, which will be staffed by Warby Parker employees, will open in the second half of 2025, beginning with the opening of the first shop and shop location. Warby Parker at Target will also be discoverable through target.com Additional shop and shops are slated to open in 2026, with the opportunity for more in the coming years. Chris, are you buying or selling the Target Warby partnership?
Chris (0:52)
Interesting. And I, I gotta tell you, I'm, I'm a little mixed on this one I think.
Alex (0:57)
Really?
Chris (0:58)
Yeah, yeah. For Target and all the crap it's taken around its Target, you know, reputation, I think, I think it's a good move. It's a no brainer and it definitely re establishes that positioning, you know, by way of the partnership. For Warby though, and I, I've got a lot of unanswered questions. First, first let's go back and look at Warby. Let's look. Yeah. First let's go back and look at Warby in general. Right. According to the article, Warby's been around since 2010 and currently operates 276 stores across U.S. and Canada. Okay. That means they've opened roughly 18 stores a year since they started. And that's for a concept that could literally be in every town in America. Like every town has, you know, an eyeglass store, you know, or for the most part every major town does. Which tells me honestly, if I'm thinking critically about this, or at least opens a door for this thought that they don't have their operating model down yet because that pace is pretty slow for a business that's been in operation for 15 years. Right. I mean look at like, look at aldi like opening 250 stores, you know, like, it's crazy. But, but so, so now they're going into Target. Okay, sure, Warby is getting a great deal. Right. They're getting a smoking deal on those five stores because Target really needs them for all the other things we've already alluded to. But the operating dynamics are going to be different. One, you're now inside of a Target, very different than what Warby knows. Two, the locations I'm in general, I'm guessing, having run Target, stores are going to be much smaller that, you know, are going to afford Warby, much less showroom space than the traditional stores that they're used to operating and much less backroom space too. And three, you know, all that explains why only five have been announced yet, because Warby probably understands there's a lot that they don't know in terms of what this is going to look like, how it's going to work operationally, can they succeed, can they get the profit, you know, out of this, this partnership that they want to. But. So net, net, net net. I like the move. I just wonder if five years from now we'll really see Warby Parker inside of Targets everywhere. And is the incremental benefit against the cost for either party really going to be that high? Because at the end of the day, and the question that I have is, yeah, and this is a kind of a question for the Target leadership again too, in terms of how well are they seeing around the corners? Why isn't Target just buying Warby now before helping to make it more valuable and then losing its negotiation leverage in the long run? Why don't they just make it part of Target like if they really see the long term value here? So, so that's why I'm mixed on this. I think it's, it's good, it gets the Target back. But, you know, I got a lot of questions in the long run. I don't think this is a slam dunk in any way, shape or form.