Teddy’s Tour is back! I’m excited to share two shops from two very different cities that have weathered the challenges of 2020 while sharing the revitalizing joy of new eyewear with their clients:

→ Successful Vision in Pelham, NY

→ Blink Optometry in Duluth, MN

Though these two cities are quite different, the challenges of maintaining an independent business, particularly through Covid-19, are the same. —TEDDY HAMILTON

Successful Vision

PELHAM, NY

I first met owner Frank DePaolo at his previous location for Successful Vision in New York City. The store was awash in art and color, and I knew I had an instant optical friend. With his new location in Pelham, DePaolo is continuing to realize the full potential of the one-to-one experience of buying eyewear.

Now, he’s exploring various ways to find a specific fit. “I am currently offering patients the ability to get a biometric scan of their face that recognizes over 500,000 points and allows me to truly make a custom spectacle,” he says.

Covid-19 and the challenges of maintaining this connection have only heightened his ability to create personal connections through social media while also championing his fellow local businesses.

“Interesting times we’re living in!” says DePaolo. Interesting indeed, but Successful Vision is continuing to live up to its name.

svbshop.com

AWESOME ATTRIBUTES:

• The space features local artists on the walls including student art.
• The use of unique frame displays that don’t rely on standard shelves and display racks.

Blink Optometry

DULUTH, MN

Blink Optometry was founded by a desire to break free from the corporate world and create a space for specs that was led by experience, love of eyewear, and value in customer care. Dynamic duo Nick Shilman, O.D., and Tom Lund, ABOC, create a space of trust, knowledge, and style, right on the banks of Lake Superior.

Part of Blink’s success through challenges big (a worldwide pandemic!) and small (road construction surrounding their store) is their commitment to a personal thoughtfulness for their clients. Before Covid, they had a call list for patients to come and have a meeting with a visiting sales rep.

“It’s more of an intimate showing of frame lines and makes those particular customers feel a little more appreciated,” says Dr. Shilman.

Now, the store is appointment-only and maintaining a sense of joy through frequent, witty Facebook posts and continuing to show their clients that nothing—not rain, snow, construction, nor Covid—will keep them down.

blinkduluth.com

AWESOME ATTRIBUTES:

• Located in the heart of the Arts and Theater District of downtown Duluth.
• Blink is a Steel Sponsor of COGGS, or Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores, a local mountain bike organization.

MARY “TEDDY” HAMILTON is a writer and ABO-certified optician based in Minnesota. Her work has appeared in over 40 literary journals, anthologies, newspapers, and magazines, and her chapbook, “We Know What We Are,” won the 2009 Rose Metal Press Chapbook Competition.