Warby Parker, the purveyor of trendy eyewear, has outgrown its corner of the Askov Finlayson store and on Saturday will open its own space at 113 N. Washington Av. in downtown Minneapolis.
The colorful, booklined store in the North Loop neighborhood marks the company's 75th location in the United States and Canada. By the end of the year, it expects to have 90 free-standing stores.
Named after a mashup of two characters in a manuscript by novelist and poet Jack Kerouac, Warby Parker got its start in 2010 as an online-only retailer that offered lower-priced and well-made designer glasses.
The Warehouse District has been on the company's radar since 2013, when Warby Parker's traveling pop-up store -- a yellow school bus -- made a stopover here, a spokeswoman said. The brick-and-mortar space will have a few local nods, including an in-store mural that includes the Stone Arch bridge and other local icons, and a line of blue-lensed glasses available only in the North Loop store.
Separately, the company will launch a new line of children's frames nationwide on Saturday, available in two sizes and a handful of rainbow colors.
