Stanton Optical Partners With Staples To Challenge Warby Parker's Retail Expansion
Stanton Optical, a brand under Now Optics, currently operates over 300 locations in 32 states and plans to open 30 to 50 more this year. And it just signed a partnership agreement to launch shop-in-shops in select Staples stores, the first to open in Pennsylvania this fall.
This move comes as Warby Parker, which recently opened its 300th store and entered Target with five shop-in-shop locations, continues to lean more heavily into physical retail, especially as it is ending the five-frames-for-five-days home try-on that initially put Warby Parker on the map.
Yet while Warby Parker is catching up in store count, Stanton Optical is way out in front in eyecare innovation. With a revolutionary telehealth-enabled professional eyecare service, same-day glasses delivery and a vertically-integrated business model, the privately-held company is redefining what optical retail can be.
The essential difference is Warby Parker is expanding into brick-and-mortar retail and in-store eye exams to sell more eyeglasses, while Stanton Optical is focused on making eyecare accessible to more Americans, selling more glasses is only part of the mission.
'When a customer walks into an optical retailer, they're partly in a retail environment and partly in a clinical environment. It's hard to blend servicing a customer and a patient together,' shared Daniel Stanton, co-founder and CEO of Now Optics.
'Our mission from day one was to find a better solution to service people's eyecare and eyewear needs together seamlessly to make their journey easier, more accessible and more affordable,' he continued.
Seizing The Opportunity
Stanton Optical, was founded in 2006 by Daniel and the late industry-insider Marco Musa, under Vision Precision Holdings, which subsequently changed its name to Now Optics in 2019. The first two Stanton Optical stores opened in 2007.
Yet, the mission was always the same: to disrupt the optical retail industry then dominated by Luxottica Retail and its Pearle Vision, LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut brands, plus operating Sears, Target and BJ's optical franchises.
'We were a disruptor long before Warby Parker became a disrupter,' Daniel said, noting that the company is the largest U.S. founder-owned and operated optical retailer and that the company has been fully bootstrapped, no outside institutional investment. Warby Parker was founded in 2010 and went public in 2021.
Stanton Optical has had its share of growing pains. It launched a sister My Eyelab retail chain in 2013 that was rebranded to Stanton Optical in 2023 and it introduced a franchise business model in 2016. However, franchises represent a small percentage of the store base so the going forward strategy is focused on growth through company-owned stores and the Staples partnership.
Franchising is a popular model in the $68.3 billion optical retail industry that grew 3% from 2023 after a post-pandemic surge, according to The Vision Council. In the franchise space, Vision Source, which EssilorLuxottica acquired in 2015, leads.
Yet, it's been upwards and onwards for Stanton Optical over the years. It entered the ranks of the top 20 optical retailers in 2014 and today holds at number 13, according to Vision Monday. Warby Parker is a few slots ahead at number 10, but it dropped from number 9 in 2023. Vision Source, Luxottica Retail, and Walmart are ranked number one, two and three, respectively.
The Formula
'What we are trying to do is improve the customer journey within the store,' Daniel explained. 'One of our staff members greets the customer, guides them through the process, including the ocular telehealth examination where a medical doctor operating remotely takes all of diagnostic data outputs and builds the customer's vision plan.'
He described the ocular telehealth service, provided in partnership with Physicians Eyecare Group, as an 'unlock' for the business that enables it to scale. 'We started with the medical doctor practice and then infused it with digital technologies so now we have a fully integrated solution that blends the consumer-retail side with the clinical side.'
With the customer's prescription in hand, the Stanton Optical staff member helps them select their frames – 90% of its products are the company's own brands – and with its in-house lab, most customers can walkout of the store with their new glasses within 45 minutes.
Staples Partnership
Stanton Optical's move into Staples is another cornerstone of its growth journey. Staples operates nearly 1,000 stores and is ranked by Forbes among the nation's top 100 private companies with an estimated $8 billion in sales.
While Staples is a leader in the office supply sector, it has been reaching into new categories to go beyond those narrow confines into a wide range of practical products for work, school, travel and play – it sells Lego sets.
'At Staples, we're always looking for new ways to make our stores a destination for everyday solutions,' said Brian Coupland, Senior Vice President of Merchandising, Staples U.S. Retail. 'Partnering with Stanton Optical will introduce trusted eye care services into select locations, giving customers even more reasons to rely on us for the products and services that help make their lives easier.'
Providing eyewear and eyecare in Staples stores is a natural extension of its everyday-solutions mission. The Vision Council reports that 92% of the 240 million American adults use some form of eyewear. And according to Daily Eyewear Digest, nearly 32% of children under age 10 need corrective lens.
While the number of Staples stores that will feature Stanton Optical shop-in-shops has yet to be determined, all stores will offer the same deals, including two pairs of glasses for $79 and a free eye exam.
'At Now Optics, we're focused on redefining how everyday eye care fits into people's lives– available when you need it at prices you can afford. Partnering with Staples to bring Stanton Optical into their stores is a natural extension of that mission. Together, we're making it easier than ever for consumers to get the care they need, right where they already shop,' Daniel concluded.
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