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FRAMES at an Exhibition
Pittsburgh's Eyetique displays its creativity in a hip new shop inspired by museum design
By Erinn Morgan

Eyetique's new boutique is a sliver of a store at 300 square feet of alley-like space, but its downtown location and hip interior bring in the business

Sandwiched nicely between the Apple Computer store and a local art gallery, the new Eyetique store in downtown Pittsburgh has a prime location.

"It's the best street in Shadyside," says owner Norman Childs, who runs three additional Eyetique locations in the area. "It's high-end, there is a ton of foot traffic, and it's the kind of store where people come in spontaneously. Every city has one street like this."

Childs had considered the space, previously inhabited by Sunglass Hut, eight years ago. "I never wanted to put something there because it was so close to my main store, and I didn't want to cannibalize what I already had," he says. "But when they moved out, I decided to take it and make it more of a showroom and billboard for Eyetique. There is no lab, no doctor, just great frames."

The new space has some challenges, however, since its 300 square feet is in a long alley-like configuration. "About 45 of those feet include a bathroom, office, and storage room, too," says Childs.

EYE ON DESIGN

Local architect Alan Dunn of Dunn and Associates, Inc., was contracted to design the boutique. A bench on one side of the room and the eyewear display on the other allow shoppers visiting this avant-garde neighborhood to view the eyewear as art. "We kept it a museum-like environment in that it's a stark, white space with a dark slate tile floor," Dunn says. "The only use of color is that some of the translucent Plexiglas shelves are tin-ted red and blue, which kind of plays off the whole compositional character of the wall."

A mirrored wall creates the illusion of space behind the all-glass storefront. Halogen lighting accents the eyewear. The frames are illuminated from above and shadows of the frames grace the walls for an abstract presentation. "The display is meant to convey the same kind of artistry and contemporary nature of the eyewear itself," says Dunn.

Architect Alan Dunn created a museum-like environment with a bench on one side and artistic eyewear displays on the other

An eclectic assortment of eyewear benefits the artistic neighborhood, including Retrospecs and Lafont. "Things that we don't really sell in our other stores," says Childs. "It's not higher-end, just different. We still offer the basic essentials like our own brand and Oliver Peoples—things that are our bread and butter."

Because of the size and gallery flavor of the shop, it is vitally important to maintain the setup and
organization of frames. "We have shelving which displays things clea-ner," says Childs. "And we are always straightening things out and reorganizing. The pain is definitely worth the gain."

The size of the shop also inspired Childs to make it paperless, a move that in turn motivated him to take all of his stores in that direction.

"We have 65,000 patients in our main stores," he says. "It's really something because you don't have to deal with the space issues."

To facilitate eyeglass orders, Eyetique also has a messenger service and a vehicle that runs between the new shop in Shadyside and the main 4,000-square-foot location in Squirrel Hill.

Colorful displays and an abundance of unique, eye-catching frames make this wall pop

"We have a good system for this," says Childs. "And now we have two store models, but it's easy enough for patients to get their eyes checked and then head over to the boutique store to get their frames."

MAKING IT WORK

Staffing, however, is a challenge. With only room enough for one working optician, the customer traffic can be challenging for even the most seasoned veteran.

"We have two full-time employees, but we usually have only one person working at a time, compared to the main store where we have 12 to 14 people on the floor," says Childs.

"On weekends, they are both there. You can't really fit more in there. We have a camera system so that I can watch any of my stores at any time anywhere in the world. When I see it's jammed, I can send someone down there or head down myself to help out," he adds.

Childs expects his bottom line to benefit substantially from this uniquely designed, busy location. "Frankly, it's doing amazing [volume]. I've never had a store out of the box do as well as this one's doing," he says. "It has made me look at what I'm doing. Now I am looking for more locations like this."

After seeing the successes here, Childs decided to make some changes to his main store. "We are doing a whole 'showroom' in the main store that's going to look just like the Shadyside store. We are doing the same shelving, lighting, and museum-like effect."

In addition, Childs also has plans to open additional stores. "It's crazy, it really is. We'll do two more in Pittsburgh and more in Ohio, maybe Cleveland," he says. "It's a midlife crisis—I have been through the sports cars and now I am ready for more stores."

But with an established brand and a new concept, it certainly makes good business sense. Childs notes: "We have had a lot of nice comments on the new store. If they didn't like what we did, we would not be opening more stores."