I joined here to tell you that WP will not be here in the future.
Having worked in a WP store, they are hemorrhaging money/cash.
Sales are from really cheap customers often young and debt strapped, and the staff is basically trained to sell add-ons without full disclosure in an effort to boost AOV. This model is not sustainable and is an experiment in woke brokeness! Management is gay, female, tattooed, and basically undereducated. They seek to make coffee with kool-aid mix. They call themselves a holistic medical provider of optical products, but are banking on contact buyers' reorders after paying them 20% off, manufacturers' rebates, and $50 gift card for a year's supply to buy once. Optometrist are independent and use WP staff to process their payments. Often, technical issues shut down all sales network wide. Retail is not in their wheelhouse and they are being undercut on price online.
It is a bad plan to go after retail to sell progressives to older customers who sense there is something wrong, and can find no where to sit. I would think that new stores are losing millions, District Managers are going through the motions, and really have no plan to reach profitability as rental rates raise increasing the rent on many stores too expensive to build out and maintain. Employee turnover is high, not paid a living wage.
The WP locations are staffed by store leaders who have little or no experience in management or within WP, except for the outside few hired at the major early stores in the Big City Metros, but in the burbs they make employees who cannot afford to live near stores drive far and even reimburse milage for some and traveling Opticians. It is a huge loser. Glasses, damaged, and other Returns pile up too as the customers are very likely and even encourage to buy and then bring back, just so the stores have some sales on some days. SELL SHORT. I'd never own WP stock. It is a farce, albeit a pretty blue one with odd artworks and former gang members staffing your nearest high-end location!
Bearish
