In this issue:

Upfront
Go Shopping
Dispensers will get the opportunity to do a little shopping at the Ralph Lauren store of their choice thanks to a new promotion.s.

Upfront
Revo Goes Green
Revo eyewear collaborated with the “Sagax Revo Greenland Expedition,” a six-person team, led by explorer Luc Hardy, which traveled this summer to some of the most northerly reaches of Greenland to measure the impact of global warming on the Arctic region.

Upfront
Two’s Company
In her ongoing quest to make eyewear the ultimate accessory, Sheila Vance, Sama Eyewear CEO and designer, is offering coordinated sets of ophthalmic frames and sunglasses.

Upfront
Hey, Little Chevy
Wiley X Eyewear got some full-time sponsorship play on Ginn Racing Chevy at the June 24 NEXTEL Cup race before the machine bowed out with engine woes so the hometown crowd in Livermore, Calif. never got a full chance to gloat but that didn’t stop Wiley X’s co-owner and VP of sales Myles Freeman commenting “The folks at Ginn Racing have been so great to work with and we are so excited about this second opportunity to race our Wiley X Chevy before such a large audience.

Upfront
Spacing Out
It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for four lucky Silhouette customers, as they witnessed a live NASA shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Upfront
An Inventive Idea
New York-based Ira Lerner, an optical marketing guru, has formed ISL Technologies, LLC.

Upfront
Hall of Frames

Upfront
Sew Talented
Proenza Schouler design duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez know what women want when it comes to fashion.

Upfront
Lens Marketing
Specialty Lens Launches Unconventional Sweepstakes

Low Vision Seminars Offered by Eschenbach

Upfront
The Disconnection Between Optometry and Selling
As a professional sales person, the above quote is my mantra. When someone asks me what “my secret” is, I hand out two business cards.

Features
A Children’s Place
Though the official name—Medford Optical at Waltham—is a bit weighty, there’s nothing heavy about the design and execution of this whimsical dispensary located within the walls of the ophthalmology department at Children’s Hospital Boston at Waltham.

Features
HEY, GOOD LOOKING
Looks do count… especially in business. While providing the best care and service for patients is critical for any practice, so is the appearance of the optical dispensary.

Features
Portrait of an Artist
Sigrid Olsen entered the fashion world through textiles and weaving. In fact, the caption with her eighth grade yearbook photo predicted she would one day become a textile designer.

Features
W-eyed Open Spaces
When the doctors of Berks Eye Physicians and Surgeons in Wyomissing, Pa., realized they needed to update the look of their offices, they decided to consolidate the two small practices into one bigger one.

Features
An Eye Dealistic Vision
Tracie Rogalinski, business manager at Eye Deal Vision, knows what it takes for an optical store to appeal to a young crowd. “Kids and teens want to be at the pinnacle of fashion and buy from a place that looks fashionable,” she says.

Features
BIZING AND BLOGGING
There’s a hefty little bonus packaged in with this issue of 20/20. This year’s kidzbiz advertorial marks the largest contents count ever for this supplement.

Whats New
Silhouette: SPX Folding Rimless Collection
Silhouette Optical introduces SPX Folding Rimless, a synthetic rimless collection. The line, which contains eight styles, was designed as a more edgy, urban companion to the company’s SPX Motion collection released earlier this year.

Whats New
Eye Q Eyewear: Sydney Love Collection
Eye Q Eyewear launches Sydney Love Eyewear, a fun and whimsical line targeted to women of all ages. The collection contains 14 styles. Shapes are variations on bowties, butterflies, rectangles, ovals and cat eyes in fully rimmed and semi-rimless styles.

Whats New
Aoyama: Bed Head Eyewear
Aoyama Optical USA launches its edgy Bed Head Eyewear collection under a worldwide, licensing agreement with Bed Head by TIGI Linea.

Whats New
Altair: JOE Eyewear
Altair Eyewear launches JOE Eyewear under a licensing agreement with Joseph Abboud Apparel Corp.

Editors Note
A SCOUT IS LOYAL
It’s been years. I actually cannot think of a specific retail-related topic I’ve written more about than branding.

L&T
Does Compute
Computer eyewear sales provide eyecare professionals with one of the greatest opportunities for practice growth today.

L&T
Avoiding TMI (Too Much Information) Syndrome
Recently, PPG Industries released the results of a national survey that probed consumers’ knowledge of eyeglass lens materials.

L&T
Searching For Specials
I own a small chain of pediatric dispensaries and during the past 22 years, we have filled enough unusual prescriptions that the unusual has become the norm.