Candid Opens Store to Straighten New Yorkers' Smiles
*By Madison Alworth*
After shipping dental implant kits and teeth aligners directly to consumers for almost 10 months, the teeth alignment company Candid Co. has opened its first retail location in New York, the start-up's largest market.
The year-old teeth alignment company had prided itself on being able to reach consumers anywhere in the country, but opening a brick-and-mortar store was a clear next step, said the co-founder and CEO Nick Greenfield.
"Within the first couple weeks of launching we heard from customers that they wanted to come in and touch and feel the product," Greenfield said in an interview with Cheddar. "We launched the Candid Studio with that in mind."
Greenfield said that the new store will make the company's teeth alignment products more accessible to some potential customers who may be intimidated by trying something at home by themselves.
"It really opens up a totally different segment, who are folks who maybe wouldn't do something at home, but they feel comfortable coming in and then having the experience in the studio," he said. "And then they can walk out and do the rest of the treatment from home."
Candid works with trained orthodontists with an average of 20 years experience, according to the company. The service, which includes dental impressions, progressive sets of teeth-aligners, and fitted retainers for life, costs about $2,000. That's comparable with competitors, such as Smile Direct ($1,850 - $2,170), and less than traditional braces, which can cost up to $7,000.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/candid-co-differentiating-itself-in-the-crowded-teeth-alignment-space).
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The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
