Warby Parker is finally opening a store in Philly
Welcome back to the City of Brotherly Love
Warby Parker, the impeccably charming eyeglass company, is returning to its Philly roots by opening a new store this Saturday on 1523 Walnut Street.
It’s rumored Warby Parker was born in a bar on Walnut Street and started at a Center City apartment by four University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business students: Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Andy Hunt and Jeff Raider.
What was first started as four buddies bonding over their annoying habit of losing their glasses is now a billion dollar online company shattering the eyeglass ceiling and also serving as an ‘F U’ to the eyeglass market in the process.
Most people don’t know that the eyeglasses they’re currently wearing—or maybe looked at while debating if you could pull off clear frames—used to be the product of one single company controlling the entire eyeglass market.
That is, until 2010 when Warby Parker came alive and brought forth a new choice to the typical $700 pair of designer glasses. The eyeglass company gave consumers a new option of a $95 alternative to the speckled frames complete with attitude and a sister pair that’s given to someone in need.
The consumer-based company celebrates the intellectual life complete with an office culture based on the good things in life: people, books, glasses, and the environment.
The word revolutionary has been used to describe the company and it is not far-fetched. According to their website, Warby Parker is the only carbon-neutral eyewear brand in the world, designs and produces their own frames in-house, and works with nonprofits to distribute glasses to those in need so so that everyone is afforded the privilege to see and learn.
Shoppers can expect to see a new collection of exclusive frames in celebration of the new Philadelphia store, along with classic WP frames with their signature quirky names like ‘Grapefruit Soda’ and ‘Burnt Lemon Tortoise’.
They even offer a monocle for purchase, if that’s your thing.