Eyewear Retailer Takes Revenge on Warby Parker

“It was insulting,” he said of a Warby promotion.

As Warby Parker prepared last week to open a store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia, Cliff Balter, owner of Innervision Eyewear, was making his own plans.

He was set to have several people stationed right outside the new Warby Parker location on Saturday, giving away coupons for his own business, Philly.com reported. He even had the proper permits from the city.

The idea was to promote his Philly EyeWorks discount line.

Balter said he got the idea for this blatant promotion from Warby Parker itself. In 2012, he said, Warby Parker parked its mobile showroom (which it called the “class trip” bus) right outside Innervision Eyewear — twice.

Neil Blumenthal, CEO of Warby Parker, told Philly.com that the four company founders all lived in the Rittenhouse Square at that time, and “that’s why we decided to bring the class trip bus to the area.”

Nonetheless, Balter was none too fond of the location choice.

“On the one hand, it was smart,” he told Philly.com. “On the other hand, it was insulting.”

So as he sees it, turnabout is fair play.

Read more at Philly.com