John’s Crazy Socks to hold ribbon-cutting for new Huntington store

John’s Crazy Socks, the mission-driven business co-founded by entrepreneur John Cronin and his father Mark X. Cronin, will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, June 25 at 1 p.m. to officially open its first-ever retail store.

The store, at 328A Main St. in Huntington Village, is part of a larger facility that also houses the company’s fulfillment center and podcast studio and will serve as the future home of the Abilities Rising Job Training Academy, which will formally train people with differing abilities for careers in warehouse and retail environments.

“This store is the mission made physical,” said Mark X. Cronin, co-founder of John’s Crazy Socks. “Every day, people can walk in, meet John and our team, and see for themselves what people with differing abilities can do. There is no store like it anywhere.”

The new facility is a homecoming of sorts for the Cronins, who founded John’s Crazy Socks in Huntington in Dec. 2016 after John, who has Down syndrome, finished school and could not find meaningful work. What began as a test — 452 orders shipped in two weeks — grew into a global business that has shipped over 500,000 packages to 94 countries, donated more than $850,000 to charity partners, and built a team where more than half of the employees have differing abilities.

“Customers have been asking us for a store since the very first day,” said John Cronin, co-founder, president, and chief happiness officer of John’s Crazy Socks. “We are home. Come visit us.”