Just in time for the busy holiday shopping season, Shady Rays is opening its first brick-and-mortar retail space this weekend.
The Simpsonville, Kentucky-based eyewear company will open its doors at The Summit at Fritz Farm in Lexington on Saturday, Nov. 13. The 1,000-square-foot storefront employs eight people
In an interview Friday, Shady Rays founder and CEO Chris Ratterman said the new storefront is everything he expected it to be and more.
"We're really excited to open it up and then get right into the rush of all the holiday action and introducing customers during that time," he said. "I think when you walk in, you really get a pretty incredible premium experience that we were looking to create.
"One of the most amazing things to see come to life is being ability to showcase the styles that are a little bit more fashion-forward and lifestyle frames versus the outdoor-, adventure- and sports-style frames in other areas of the store, as well as the overall breadth of product."
As I previously reported, Ratterman founded Shady Rays in 2012 and built the brand from the ground up, using his parents' living room as a shipping facility. Since those early days, the company has established a 12,000-square-foot headquarters at 40 Kingbrook Parkway in Simpsonville, and last year, it ranked No. 54 on the Inc. 5000 list with 5,683% three-year revenue growth driven by its e-commerce sales.
Ratterman said the new Lexington storefront will serve as a test model as Shady Rays works to develop the design for its future flagship stores. The company is already working towards expansion in other markets.
"We are actively executing expansion into other markets and evaluating what those opportunities are, while closely watching the early signals of this first store to determine various aspects in terms of the footprint and the overall in-store experience to help mold that expansion," he said.
In addition to the new store opening, Shady Rays will be launching its holiday sale ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to accommodate for the expected delivery crunch around Christmastime. Ratterman said the company experienced carrier delays last year and has heard from the United States Postal Service to anticipate a larger degree of delays this season.
"The way that we are getting around that from our fulfill operations is to control what we can control and assure that all products go out the door within 24 to 48 business hours," he said. "We have roughly 25 people fulfilling orders from our e-commerce channel."
See below for photos of the new store.
