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| Even though attendees came to Expo with business on their minds they still found time to stargaze. Famous faces at Expo included clockwise from bottom left: Ron Jaworski for XXL at A&A Optical, Mike Piazza at Revolution, Kay Unger for Nouveau, Mickey Rourke at Revolution, Randy Jackson for Zyloware and Paris Hilton for Gripping Eyewear. |
The conference and show, which was held here March 26-29, finished on a high note for most exhibitors, despite the economy. In a statement from show organizers, Tom Loughran, event director for Reed Exhibitions, said, “While preliminary attendance figures indicate that we are down approximately 12 percent in our attendance, we were very pleased to hear positive feedback from both attendees and exhibitors at the show.”
A complete third-party audit of International Vision Expo East will be available soon, Loughran said, emphasizing, “It is notable that International Vision Expos are the only optical events to continually audit their attendance despite the up and down swings in the economy.”
The show featured a new “New York” themed floor layout, highlighting Manhattan street names and organizing exhibitors into eyewear, lenses and technology and medical/scientific areas, in addition to dedicated halls for the Galleria and Underground.
On the continuing education front, the first-time Visionomics conference program focused on actionable strategies to help ECPs identify business opportunities and increase efficiencies.
In addition, a roster of celebrities created additional excitement on the show floor, among them: Randy Jackson for Zyloware, Kay Unger for Nouveau, Paris Hilton at Gripping Eyewear, Ron Jaworski for A&A Optical, Steven “Cojo” Cojocaro hosting the Safilo fashion shows, and guest appearances at Revolution featuring Mike Piazza, Mickey Rourke and Kara Dioguardi.
Although not all regions of the country are equally affected by the recession, eyecare professionals on both East and West Coasts told Vision Monday and 20/20 Magazine editors that their customers were looking for ways to economize.
Pat Langone, owner/optician at The Optical House in Wakefield, Mass., said he was adjusting his Expo purchasing so it is in line with his customers’ budgets. “Our business is doing okay, but we’re seeing consumers definitely watching their spending—we’re selling a lot of meat and potatoes, and not many fancy bottles of wine,” remarked Langone. “Here at Vision Expo, I’m looking for low-priced frames, mainly for insurance patients, along with office furniture, lenses and computer equipment.”
Anita Mizrachi, executive director of Optical Affairs, Dr. Melman’s Eyeland, Voorhees, N.J. noted, “I always start the Spring with patients who have specific requests for products we may not have in stock, so I came to Expo with a list of about 10 specific items or so that I am looking for, on top of that I like to see the trends of the industry and will maybe pick up new things that I think my patients might also like. I always look to see if there are new companies we might want to do business with and I’ll head over to Hilco to see what new timesaving tools they might have. In general, Expo is important to me because I get an overview of what is happening in the industry.”
“Despite the recession,” said Tom Hicks, Oxford Opticians, Oxford, Ohio, “my sales are actually up a little so far in 2009, although our revenues tend to stay pretty even from year to year. My store is in a college town, home to Miami University of Ohio, which keeps us pretty recession-proof—there are always new students and new faculty coming through who want new glasses.”
Ira Haber, Europtics, with four locations in Denver, reported, “We had to cut back our buying at the show this year because business is soft. We probably bought a third of what we normally buy. What we have been interested in is collections like Paul Frank and Studebaker that are excellent quality and interesting styles at reasonable price points.”
“I’m a little bit more price conscious now, given how the economy is doing,” added Sue Stoneburner, The Spectacle Shop, Eugene, Ore., who was at the show looking for new frame lines. “I want to buy frames that will give our customers the best value. In Eugene, we’ve been hit hard. The next few months could be kind of scary.” Terrance Doran, Optician, South Bend, Ind. added, “I’m just getting back into dispensing eyewear. It was my family’s business before I opened a car dealership. This show seems pretty lively. It looks like I made the right decision. I need to go to a few of the conventions that concentrate more on the education and for those I’m taking my whole, new staff.”
Bryan Giggs, owner, The Optical Shoppe, Dublin, Ohio, commented, “Price was definitely more of a factor this time around for us at the show. Everyone is price conscious now and our patients are no different. I was looking for frames that will give our customers more bang for their buck.”
Some attendees, such as chain executive Sam Herskowitz of Sterling Optical/Emerging Vision, believe the worst is over. “I think today’s economy is a ‘good news, bad news’ situation: the bad news is, it’s still rough out there,” Herskowitz said. “The good news is, it’s not as rough as it was a few months ago. Everybody is trying to adjust to the current economic environment. We had a really good 2008 through the Fall, then things got tough. But each month since November has been better and better.”
Although some eyecare professionals and optical retailers are beefing up their value-priced and mid-priced eyewear selections, others are concentrating just as much attention on strengthening their mix of higher-end merchandise.
“We try to have price points from budget to very exclusive,” said Barbara Cline, manager of Randolph Eye Associates, which operates two locations in Randolph, Mass. “Yesterday, I bought a lot of name brands because there are a lot of people who come in today looking for certain name brands. Today, I plan on going to The Underground and The Galleria to purchase higher-end [frames].”
On the exhibitor side, the assessment was positive. Don Howard of the Kenmark Group
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| “Drill Sergeants" Jenean Carlton and Bob Main welcome “recruits” to a session of the Optical Boot Camp. |
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| Crowds fill the Javits Center waiting to get into the exhibits. |
Zyloware’s James Shyer reported, “Friday of the show was our single best day in sales for any Expo we have previously attended. It was our impression the attendees this year were there not only to see what was new and happening in the industry, but to actively replenish their dwindling store inventories. For Zyloware, there is no doubt our Randy Jackson and Daisy Fuentes collections were a draw, but we also experienced fantastic sales in our ‘old reliable’ brands such as Stetson and Sophia Loren. Randy spent the entire Saturday afternoon with us meeting current and potential customers along with optical press, magazines, newspapers and TV news.”
Expo exhibitor Marj McGraw, of Nouveau Eyewear has noticed that Expo attendees were evaluating purchases with a more discerning eye than in past years. “The buyers have been making focused buying decisions and there are not as many browsers,” she noted.
Bill Harrison, vice president of optical sales at Sáfilo USA, noted, “The overall show traffic was down, however, the seriousness of the visitors to the booth seemed to be predominant. We worked very hard to bring as much excitement to our booth as possible with our crowd-filled fashion shows and the visually compelling eyewear artifacts on display from the Galleria Tabacchi Museum in Italy. Our customers are typically more interested in the luxury brands at Vision Expo, but we did see a resurgence looking at our powerful designer and fashion brands that are priced under the luxury price points. We also had more requests for our strong proprietary brands.”
Ellen Kitnick of Windsor Eyes, commented, “We experienced a lot of traffic in the exhibit hall. I felt sales were pretty good and was delighted. Most of our sales were centered on Cadillac eyewear, which is offered at a good price point. Our eyeglass cases, bagieS by magieS, also did well.”
Myles J Freeman, Wiley X, reported, “We just keep building up our presence at these shows. The effort seems to pay off. With this show it actually feels like the sport area is a real ‘go to’ area and luckily people are going to us. It helps to be right behind Revolution where the line for celebrities stretches right in front of our booth.”
Eileen Goldman Sobel, REM’s midwest regional manager: “I really didn’t hear buyers at Expo East saying they’re worried about this year; in fact, most said they were up a little. We did see an increase in their ordering of mid-range and low-priced eyewear, because that’s what their customers are buying. Overall, I’d say there was an upbeat feeling to the industry at this show, not gloom and doom. The smart retailers were at Expo East, looking ahead and saying, ‘What do we need to do next?’”
Added REM’s Donna Gindy, “This is going to sound crazy but I believe how you do at the show is determined by how you work your preshow. It feels busy her at VEE. There is a buzz. Because we pre-book appointments we have a constant flow of traffic. I like how the frames booths were all together. It made the show more uniform. I’m very optimistic about this new layout.”
Summing up the feeling at the show: “What bad economy?” asked Roger Shyer of Eastern States Eyewear.
—With contributions from Cathy Ciccolella, Andy Karp, Deirdre Carroll, James Spina, Jackie Micucci, Gloria Nicola, Christie Walker.
