EDITOR'S LETTER

Light a Candle

Amy Spiezio

When times are tough, it's tempting to keep your hands in your pockets, your head down, and your hopes to a minimum. But this may be the moment to up your game to the next level. We're at the tipping point for many businesses, a time to decide just how to do business. Hopefully, we can all take a page from former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, of whom Adlai Stevenson said: "She would rather light candles than curse the darkness."

In the months before the recent financial unpleasantness, the luxury market was under the gun. Although the market was larger than ever, competition was growing keener by the moment with chains and consolidation entering the once-safe enclave of the top-tier retailers.

Even if Bernie Madoff's scheme had never collapsed, the real estate market stayed strong, and the financial demands of a long-running war hadn't taken their toll, retailers would still be duking it out for supremacy in a marketplace overfilled with deluxe shopping opportunities.

So how will you create a light for your business? With the publication of Facets, a supplement to Eyecare Business magazine, we hope to illuminate luxury optical retail business strategies in a way that zeroes in specifically on your needs. Just as a rough gem needs the handiwork of a master craftsman to make its facets truly shine, only those who are willing to make the extra effort will successfully create a selling environment that meets the high-end's rariried requirements. From store design and jewels to buying and pricing trends, Facets examines and reveals what it will take for you to stay great.