The Galleria plays a mean game of Whac-A-Mole.
For every retailer leaving a hole in the Edina mall this year, another jumped in to fill it.
Creative Kidstuff, Z Gallerie home furnishings, Scheherazade Jewelers, Scandia Down and Oh Baby! have left plenty of holes this year, but Galleria's managers quickly leased them.
Warby Parker eyewear, the online company that started offering fashionable, complete pairs of glasses for under $100, has now supplemented its success with 110 retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. The Galleria store now open offers frames and lenses from $95 to about $500. More expensive glasses include progressive lenses with ultrahigh-index plastic for stronger prescriptions. Last month, Warby Parker came out with multiple frame sizes for its most popular frames.
The store, across from Ampersand, includes kids' frames, low-bridge fits, and on-site eye exams for $75. Its "buy a pair, give a pair" program has provided 5 million pairs of glasses to those in need in 50 countries around the world. Warby Parker also has a shop in the North Loop in Minneapolis. In the Galleria, it joins eyewear retailers Fifth Avenue Optical and InVision.
Suitsupply, recently opened in the lower level across from Barnes and Noble, appears to be going against trend. The U.S. men's suit market has fallen by 8% to $1.98 billion since 2015, while more casual wear has expanded 17% according to Euromonitor International.
But Chief Executive Fokke de Jong, who founded Suitsupply in Amsterdam in 2000, said suit sales are still growing at his company. "Men are spending more money on clothing," he said. "Whether it's our suits or our separates, people appreciate going to a store for personal advice."
Many of the suits and sport coats are made from Italian fabrics. The company still benefits from a 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal that placed its $600 suit on par with a $3,600 Armani in the quality of its construction.