6 Moves That Explain Warby Parker's Build-It-Yourself Expansion
From an in-house EHR to a face-scan fit guide, Warby Parker's 2025 playbook centers on owning the feedback loop.
Source material: clickz.com
Why the EHR Had to Be Built, Not Bought
- Name: Sandy Gilsenan
- Count: 550 doctors
- Date: March–June
At eTail Boston, Warby Parker's chief retail and customer officer, Sandy Gilsenan, told Jill Manoff of Glossy and Modern Retail why the company built its own electronic health records system rather than licensing a third-party platform. The internal software went from a pilot in a small set of stores in March to a full rollout across every exam suite by June. Gilsenan said a commercial vendor would have needed six months or more to deliver the same thing. That speed was a side benefit. The real advantage was control. With more than 550 doctors relying on the system daily, Warby Parker could collect clinical feedback while the software was still being written. A licensed EHR would have tied those workflows to another company's roadmap. Building it made the feedback loop the product's core, not an afterthought.
The Face-Scan Fit Tool That Narrows the Catalog
- Product: Guided in-app tours
- Team: Senior staff
Warby Parker's virtual try-on, Gilsenan's personal favorite, lets shoppers view frames on their own face from multiple angles. A newer recommendation tool scans the customer's face to size frames relative to their eye placement, then narrows the online catalog that could otherwise feel overwhelming. The two features combine to give an online shopper a sense of fit before they commit. Gilsenan said the goal is to bring the confidence of in-store service into an online purchase, not to replace the optician who will later physically adjust a frame. The scan reduces guesswork about frame proportions, which is especially useful when the catalog contains many styles. Built internally rather than licensed, the tool reflects Warby Parker's broader approach: owning the feedback loop between customer behavior and product design. A vendor might offer a generic fitting engine, but this version is tailored to the brand's frames and to the way its customers shop, turning an overwhelming shelf into a short list.
Store Expansion Pushes 50 New Locations in 2026
- Product: Prescription upload too
- Team: In-store opticians
Warby Parker opened 47 stores in 2025 and is on track for 50 in 2026, its highest annual count yet. That expansion pushes the fleet past 350 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Gilsenan was explicit about why the growth and eye exam access are tied: new stores increasingly launch with exam capability built in, so the clinic is part of the store from day one. A customer walks in for an exam, gets a prescription, and can then choose frames in the same location. That structure matters for retention—customers who get exams from Warby Parker doctors come back for checkups and contact lenses, turning a single frame purchase into a recurring clinical relationship. The store count is the carrier for that relationship, and the build-first philosophy applies to real estate as well as software. Adding 50 stores a year means the clinical network grows at the same pace, not as an afterthought.
Old Stores Get the Exam Suite Retrofit
- Count: 47 stores in 2025
- Count: 50 stores in 2026
- Count: 350+ locations
- Store: New stores with exam suit
Adding eye exam capability to existing Warby Parker stores isn't always a quick process. The Buckhead location closed for six weeks to install an exam suite and a family test area—features that didn't exist when the store first opened. The North Park Dallas location, one of the brand's strongest performers, is currently closed for a renovation that will add exam suites throughout. These retrofits take time and revenue offline; a six-week closure is a significant interruption. But Gilsenan positioned them as extensions of the same care model to high-traffic locations that already have a customer base. Rather than relying only on new construction, the company is willing to temporarily close an existing store to bring clinical care to a proven market. The family test suite at Buckhead is a concrete example: it serves parents and children together, making the store a recurring destination. Reopening a strong performer after a renovation is a bet that clinical access will deepen loyalty more than uninterrupted sales would.
The 900-Store Target Is a Clinical Network Plan
- Store: Buckhead
- Store: North Park Dallas
- Duration: Six weeks
Gilsenan says Warby Parker is on a clear path toward 900 stores, building exam access into that expansion rather than bolting it on later. That target is a long-range goal, not a current-year plan, but it frames the company's strategy. Each new store comes with an exam suite, so every location is a potential entry point for a long-term patient relationship—not just a place to buy frames. That decouples the store count from a typical retail expansion: the growth is also a growth in clinical capacity. The EHR build is the software backbone for that network, and the self-training tours make it possible to open exam suites without pulling senior staff from existing locations. Unlike a fast roll-up of stores, this plan depends on having the infrastructure ready before the doors open. The 900-store target is therefore less about real estate and more about establishing a consistent standard of eye care across a large footprint. It's a strategy where physical presence and medical services move as one system, not two separate businesses.
Intelligent Eyewear Launches With Google and Samsung
- Product: Eye exams and contact l
- Store: Recurring clinical relati
Warby Parker's first Intelligent Eyewear, built with Google and Samsung, is aimed at a holiday launch. Gilsenan described it as a product for all-day wear, combining the company's design language with AI features for communication, navigation, and app interaction—all without a phone screen. The launch will likely pull in two different groups. Some existing customers will adopt slowly, sticking with the frames they know; a new, technology-curious shopper may come to Warby Parker for the first time because of the device rather than the styling. That means the product has to work as both a convenience item and a brand entry point. Gilsenan was explicit that it is not a replacement for the core business. Even with AI built into the lens, the human optician who adjusts a frame so it doesn't slide down someone's face remains hard to replicate. The eyewear is instead an extension of the same design ethos: useful, polished, and built around the wearer's daily life. For a company that already makes its own EHR and try-on tools, this is the most visible version of build-first, co-developed with major tech partners but carrying Warby Parker's signature.
Where this came from. This breakdown is based on source material published at clickz.com. Images above are used with the credits shown beneath each one.