NORTHVALE, N.J.--Shore Lens Company, a three-year-old wholesale distributor based here, is building a reputation among optical laboratories as the "go to" source for a broad assortment of lens products.

Unlike stock lens houses that focus primarily on supplying a variety of branded, finished lenses from various manufacturers, Shore markets its own extensive line of finished and semi-finished lenses, primarily servicing wholesale labs and integrated retail labs.

Paul Keppler

Although it is a division of Nassau Lens Co., a major stock lens supplier, Shore maintains a separate identity.

"We're a lens house for lens customers," said Doreen Hartmann, Shore's marketing director. "Shore is a one-stop shop, a place to get semi-finished and finished under one roof."

Shore offers two proprietary progressive designs--a general purpose PAL called Shoreview, and a short-corridor design known as Balance. It also offers a broad selection of core products, including single-vision lenses, glass and polarized lenses as well as specialty products such as finished photochromics, finished 1.67 lenses with and without anti-reflective coating and aspheric polycarbonate lenses with and without AR.

"We're more like a manufacturer than a stock house," remarked Paul Keppler, a Nassau veteran who has served as Shore's vice president since March 2004. "Most distributors don't have branded PALs, and most don't look at customers and recommend a product mix. There's a consultative part of what we do. We make suggestions as to inventory and size of the order."

From its beginnings as a regional supplier, Shore has expanded to service a national customer base. The company ships overnight orders to about 250 accounts from its 6,000-square-foot warehouse in Northvale, according to Keppler. It employs a staff of 13 people, including two in-house sales reps, and is in the process of building an outside sales team.

Competitive pricing is part of Shore's appeal. "There are no shipping charges if 25 pairs of lenses or more are ordered," noted Keppler.

Although other stock lens suppliers serve wholesale laboratories and integrated retailers, Keppler believes Shore's proprietary product mix coupled with its service-oriented approach and low price points distinguish it from competitors.

"I don't think anybody's doing what we do, at least not to the extent we do it," he said.