Growing e-commerce lifestyle eyewear company Warby Parker set to open state-of-art optical lab outside Sloatsburg

Posted on 22 June 2016 by Editor

Fast-growing NYC-based e-commerce company Warby Parker continues its move into bricks and mortar with plans to open a new state-of-the-art optical facility along Route 17 at Sloatsburg's door step.

Fast-growing NYC-based e-commerce company Warby Parker continues its move into bricks and mortar with plans to open a new state-of-the-art optical facility along Route 17 at Sloatsburg’s door step.

Trendy New York City-based designer eyewear company Warby Parker made a splashy announcement Wednesday, June 22, related to a new optical facility in the works near Sloatsburg.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was first to announce the news about the company’s proposed 34,000-square-foot building lease, quickly followed by Senator Chuck Schumer’s office, both highlighting Warby Parker‘s intended $15 million investment in a state-of-the art optical lab in Rockland County that should create some 128 new jobs over the next five years.

Both Schumer’s and Cuomo’s office wrangled hard behind the scenes for Warby Parker’s selection of Rockland County as the location for the company’s plans. And everyone, from the Senator to the Governor to Rockland County Executive Ed Day and Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright, praised the move.

Warby Parker will receive up to $1.32 million in tax credits through the NY Empire State Development economic development agency, along with $2.2 million dollars in additional tax credits if the company makes certain job creation and retention quotas.

“We welcome Warby Parker to Rockland with open arms,” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. “Rockland offers a highly skilled work force, easy access to New York City and the metropolitan region and a wonderful quality of life for Warby Parker’s employees. We are ready to assist this company in any way that we can to ease their move to Sloatsburg.”

The property which will house the facility is located at 150 Route 17, where Rockland Standard Gear has long been a tenant, with Warby Parker set to occupy the window showroom and other half of the 66,000 total square foot building — which is directly across from popular roadside attraction Auntie El’s.

Warby Parker co-founders and co-CEOs Dave Gilboa, left, and Neil Blumenthal, right, both expressed named Sloatsburg and Rockland County as a perfect location to open the company's first optical lab.

Warby Parker co-founders and co-CEOs Dave Gilboa, left, and Neil Blumenthal, right, both expressed excitement about choosing Sloatsburg and Rockland County as a perfect location to open the company’s first optical lab. Photo courtesy of Warby Parker.

The Warby Parker move is a big one for the six year-old company which competes in the competitive lens and eyewear business by providing high quality, low cost options to consumers. The NYC company has a strong millennial following and has grown in just a few year from a four-student Venture Initiation Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania into a billion dollar valuation.

The Sloatsburg/Ramapo facility goes to the heart of what Fast Company’s recent profile company called the company’s one weakness: lack of products manufactured in the USA. Consumers far and wide trust and will pay a bit of a premiom for products made in America.

A Warby Parker optical facility in Western Ramapo right at Sloatsburg’s door step for the company, and for Western Ramapo — it continues the recent interest in the region as an attractive transportation and state park hub.

Warby Parker began as an online company but has quickly moving into bricks and mortar stores, with some 34 open throughout the U.S. The optical lab will help the company eventually design and manufacture its own eyewear, but initially will be outfitted for assembling glasses and finishing prescription lenses.

The Sloatsburg/Ramapo facility would be outfitted for assembling glasses and finishing prescription lenses and help continue to grow the Hudson Valley highway that connects Rockland County’s and New York State’s park region with the highly skilled and adventurous New York City workforce.

Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright said in LoHud article on the major Warby Parker venture that news is positive for the village “because it will add employment opportunities and help the local economy.”


The TODAY show took a look in May 2016 at the Warby Parker Founders, who tell the story of the company’s fast rise to fortune in the lifestyle eyewear business.

 

Note: the article has been updated to reflect that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office first announced the Warby Parker Rockland County initiative, part of the Empire State Development effort to attract and retain innovative companies that create good-paying jobs in the Mid-Hudson Region and across the state.

 

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