AT 30 | THROUGH THE YEARS

THE BIG 30

Eyecare Business celebrates a 30-year legacy of spectacular style, winning business strategies, and a long-standing passion for helping independent eyecare professionals better their businesses. Take a walk through time with us on these pages.

Where were you in 1986?

It was a year brimming with history-making world events—Hands Across America, Chernobyl, the dawn of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Challenger space shuttle, and so much more (did I mention the birth of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen?).

And, it was the year that Eyecare Business debuted in the optical world.

EB’s big headlines in 1986?

“In the Shadow of the Superstores: Perish or Prosper?”

“Will RK Cut Into Your Business?”

“Romancing the Lens”

In 1986, I was a freshman in college in Philadelphia pursuing a fashion merchandising degree, learning everything from the elements of style to the keys to retail success. After pushing on to gain a master’s degree in journalism, I would go to work for Eyecare Business as an editor in 1995, nearly 10 years after its inception.

The magazine was highly respected as a high-integrity source for business information—and doctors and their staffs were getting on board with the business/dispensary side of their practice.

I have danced with Eyecare Business and the optical industry for 20 years, and I can confidently say there is no better place to call home. EB has a pure passion—mixed with integrity, honesty, and market leadership—that is truly second to none.

We sincerely hope you enjoy the next 30 years of Eyecare Business’ style and strategies delivered right to your desk.

—Erinn Morgan, editor-in-chief

EYECARE BUSINESS: 1986-1996

30 YEARS—AND GOING STRONG

I’ve been involved in the visioncare publishing market since early 2000, and I look back, and ahead, on our market with great excitement.

We’ve been publishing Eyecare Business for 30 years, and we are very, very excited about the future of our market and how we will continue to play a pivotal role in providing a business information tool to improve your practices.

There are so many great areas of vision care to enrich the lives of consumers and help ECPs thrive in their practices, both professionally and personally. The technology advancements in frames, lenses, equipment, contact lenses, solutions, accessories, interior designs, back-office business products, etc., have propelled this industry to new heights.

The market is here to stay, for sure, so these areas will only improve, which will enhance the consumer experience and propel the profitability of progressive practices throughout the world.

Our goal as an information source is to continue to improve as we deliver cutting-edge information to help you build best business practices into your retail environments. We’ll also continue to make the magazine look attractive and present the right “flow” to make sure your reading experience is enjoyable.

We’ve always stayed true to our mission: Follow the reader—you, the ECP—to deliver the right content to help improve your business.

Seven billion dollars was lost last year from consumers walking out the door with their Rx. Our goal is to make sure you capture that huge piece of the pie by delivering education each month on all areas of the retail market to keep the consumer in the store—how to bring them in, how to keep them there by selling solutions, and how to bring them back. It’s a goal that we try to meet each month with content that inspires and engages you to take action.

It’s been an honor serving the needs of the market for 30 years, and we’ll continue to work hard to make the right connection with eyecare professionals in all of our media platforms—print, online, research, events, social media, in-person and online education—and many other areas to help your continued success.

Please let us know how we can help you!

Here’s to another 30 strong years.

Sincerely,
Mark

Mark Durrick
Executive Vice President/Publisher
Eyecare Business magazine

EYECARE BUSINESS: 1996-2006

INDEPENDENT’S DAY

Fond memories of 30 years in optical

I entered optical shortly after EB was birthed. What strikes me most about the three decades since then is that someone in the industry was almost always saying independents were knocking at death’s door.

NINE INCH NAILS

In just its first few years, EB reported on a string of stories that some saw as nothing short of nails in the independent’s coffin. They included: VSP’s addition of an Exam Plan in 1988; the Academy of Ophthalmology encouraging members to dive into dispensing in 1992; and the rise of vertical integration with Luxottica’s purchase of LensCrafters in 1995 and Essilor’s Benson buy (including Omega Labs) a year later. All that before EB was even 10!

Simply put, the independent O.D. was supposed to be all but gone by now. As for the independent optician, that “dinosaur” was to have been nothing but a pile of bones two decades ago.

TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS

What’s wrong with that picture? Everything! It helps that the O’s have grabbed a bigger bite of managed visioncare dollars and that buying groups and alliances helped level the playing field.

Sure, independent practitioners have had their ups and downs—losing traction to other formats from 2005 to 2007, for example—but they’ve also pounded home success by growing their market share pretty much every year since then.

As for formats, remember how malls were supposed to have massacred Main Street? By now, downtowns were expected to be desolate and Main Street boarded up. Instead, the consumer’s love of local will continue to keep savvy indies just that…independent.

NO, NO, NANETTE

The Vision Council reports that in Q1 2016, independents (three doors or less) rang up 52.8% of frames sold—6% more than 12 months earlier. Take that, naysayers!

Speaking of business, it was a word to be uttered in hushed tones back in 1986. Several industry leaders warned me to use the “B word” sparingly…and never in the same breath as optometry.

I thought that odd at first, but not as bizarre as my first optical trade show (pre-Expo for sure!). Visitors to one tabletop exhibit were welcomed by a smoking chimpanzee. Another offered a look through View-Masters of women wearing nothing…but eyewear, that is.

To say optical has moved on up in the past 30 years is an understatement. In celebration, I raise my glass(es) to all of you and offer a toast to tomorrow…and optical’s next 30 years!

Stephanie K. De Long
Editorial Director Emeritus
Eyecare Business magazine

EYECARE BUSINESS: 2006-2016