VM Staff Report

NEW YORK--International Vision Expo East 2005 goes into the record books as a successful event, according to most exhibitors and attendees contacted by VM.

Suppliers at Expo East, who showcased a raft of new products during the show, generally said they fielded orders at a level higher than that of the 2004 event. And show attendees reported they found the variety of products they were seeking and a broad array of continuing-education offerings.

Special Expo East features such as the new medical and scientific pavilion, the specialized low-vision events and the two-year-old Underground (see " Expo East's 'Underground' Draws High-End Crowd") drew steady attendance throughout Expo East, on-scene observers said. Overall, the show ended on an upbeat note, with both exhibitors and show attendees expressing optimism about business in the next few months, following a strong first quarter.

Jack Schaeffer, OD, of Birmingham, Ala.-based Schaeffer Eye Centers, interviewed by a reporter for 'Extra' TV about sunwear and celebs on the show floor.

While show management declined to release even preliminary attendance figures by press time, John Moriarty, International Vision Expo's event director, commented, "Our 2005 show was one that met the expectations of our exhibitor, attendee and continuing-education customers. The exhibition was brisk with order-writing from the main exhibition floor to the Galleria to The Underground. The mix of ophthalmic advances and new eye-health education is now an integral 'show within a show' concept with the successful launch of International Vision Expo's new medical and scientific pavilion. And with our new conference advisory board now officially installed, we'll continue to host of the most comprehensive continuing-education program worldwide with the best ophthalmic practitioners in the field."

Added Moriarty, "Our goal is to provide bottom-line business and professional value, as well supporting the sense of a global community. The growing number of constituents joining the International Vision Expo fold we hope illustrates our commitment to seeing that value through for our attending practitioners and visioncare product suppliers."

Strong Level of Buying
Contacted both on the show floor and after the event, Expo East exhibitors generally gave this year's Expo East favorable reviews in terms of both booth traffic and the pace of buying. Several noted that attendance appeared to have peaks and valleys as the show progressed, however, with the number of visitors hitting a high point on Saturday afternoon.

"From what I heard, the number of attendees has been trending down for a few shows, but from our point of view Marchon had a great show; we saw non-stop activity and we had a great show for all the Marchon businesses," said that company's Al Berg. "The mood was upbeat, and buyers responded really well to the design enhancements we've been making to all our collections, providing strong distinctions among our different brands and groupings. In particular, our debut of the Michael Kors collection was one of our strongest debuts ever."

Steve Hollander of Luxottica Group told VM, "I know people were talking about the traffic, but we were jammed and Luxottica had a record show, its best ever--our sales were up some 50 percent compared to last year's Expo East. We made a concerted effort to book appointments prior to the show, and our sales team went through some training to help them better communicate about our total range of concepts and resources to help our accounts grow their business. We have a critical mass of product and the benefit of a lot of retail expertise in sun that can help our accounts build their Rx business."

Opening day crowds at the Registration desk.	Kenmark Group's Mark Kerman (l) and Don Howard welcome Thalia to their booth.
2nd Annual Eyestyle Fashion Panel from (from l): Sheila Vance, CEO, Sama Eyewaer; Alice Roi, accessories director, InStyle Magazine, Lulu Guinness, designer and founder, Lulu Guinness Collection; and David Wolfe, creative director, Donegar Creative Services.	Football great Joe Montana, hosted by Revolution's Gary Martin.

Hollander continued, "Our accounts told us business was OK since the start of the year, but their attitude was serious about buying, and many were interested to talk to us regarding Luxottica's acquisition of Cole and how they might benefit from the additional managed care 'lives' that are now covered through EyeMed."

Safilo USA's Dick Russo said floor traffic seemed a bit light early in the show, perhaps because of the snow attendees woke up to on the day the exhibits opened. Visitors to his company's booth were upbeat, however, "because the retail business has been very good for the last three months, so our business has been correspondingly good." Added Russo, "The general mood of our customers has been very positive and excited about the year going forward."

Barbara Wagner of Santinelli International described the show as "fantastic." She said, "Friday every stand in our booth was busy--we had a lot of hot leads and 'be-backs.' Overall, I'd say show traffic was good."

Michael Feldman of I-dealoptics reported a "steady flow of traffic" at his company's exhibit, adding, "There seem to be more people here this year."

Said David Dean of Live Eyewear as the show wound down, "Attendance is not as good [as last year], but people are buying. We launched four to five new lines, and the current customers love them. Business has been fantastic, double last year."

At Satis-Loh, Kurt Atchison's take on the event was "Big retailers and important meetings, but not enough labs."

And The Rudy Project's Rusty Lookabill commented, "We had no complaints about the level of buying at this show, especially on Saturday. And our sales came primarily from walk-ins, not people who had made prior appointments. Overall our sales were up a lot from last year."

What Buyers Wanted
Shayne Brill of Kenmark Group said her company's booth was very busy Friday and Saturday of Expo East. Noted Brill, "Thalia's appearance in the booth was great. Overall, buyers are looking for more detailed styles, color and crystals."

Mr. Magoo and Christopher Payan of Sterling Optical.

Said Michael Ross of Rem Eyewear during the show, "Business has been terrific--buyers who are sitting are buying. People are serious and we're converting more and more [of our appointments to sales]. Buyers are recognizing the value of brand and the collection as a whole. We've worked with our reps, and they're presenting the frames that way."

Sports Illustratedmodel Alicia Hall.

Added Rem's Blake Kuwahara, "People are recognizing the importance of merchandising sun and ophthalmic as a collection. Color is important, but not just for the sake of having color. People want color that is relevant to fashion and that relates to the collection story."

Hannah Sarbin of ClearVision Optical noted, "Vision Expo East was a phenomenal success for ClearVision. Our new BCBG Max Azria collection launched at the show, and was enthusiastically received by everyone who saw it.

Tom Lamond of VisionWeb rated the show as "about the same as last year--busy. We had more people looking at VisionWeb products, versus just those coming to use the Cyber Caf?."

Charmant's Dennis Davis told VM, "Friday was great, with good traffic all day. We had a strong momentum of traffic--a lot more people came to see what Charmant's about again."

Galleria Glimpses
Yoshi Saito, president of Toki Eyewear, told VM he felt traffic at Toki's booth in the Galleria was better this year than at last year's Vision Expo East. "Sunday was a little slow, but Saturday afternoon in particular was very busy," Saito said. "The level of traffic in the Galleria was good overall--and people were buying, not just looking."

Said Ray Khalil of Lafont, "The nature of the Galleria suits our image and the message we want to convey to our customers. We have a marketing message that is all about color and the relationship of style to eyewear that is at once exciting yet classic. The Galleria homes that message perfectly."

"The show was positive for me--I did 10 percent more business than last year, and I made a lot of new contacts," said Maryam Zaim of Aten. "My metal/plastic combination frames sold very well, as did my combination colors such as black and ivory, brown and pink and red and fuchsia. What I noticed both at the show and in general in the past few months is that everyone is looking for something different. Even some of my more conservative customers are going for funkier shapes and colors. And everybody is looking for deeper shapes suitable for progressive lenses."

First-time Vision Expo exhibitor Ann Sacks of Amy Sacks Eyewear and Accessories said her company was pleased with its Galleria performance at the show. "With our readers and other accessories, we are building a category and helping our customers to build their practices through the addition of accessories," Sacks noted. "We met a lot of people, and learned a lot from being at Expo."

Galleria exhibitor Shane Baum of BaumVision commented, "The show has been great for us--we've been very busy. We've really grown from a little booth with a handful of people coming by just a few years ago to being almost non-stop busy and generating quite a buzz."

Tony Sirico	Nicolette Sheridan

And Katie O'Connell of l.a.Eyeworks declared, "Vision Expo was great for l.a.Eyeworks. What we noticed this year was a greater confidence from our customers: existing clients with new stores opening up and telling us about remodels and new, positive directions for their businesses. We also saw more new clients interested in trying our brands for the first time. We feel a greater overall demand for our innovative and unique products. Being different is even more important now for our customers to compete, and we're happy to be an important part of that for our retailers."

Retailers' Reaction
Expo East reviews were generally positive among attendees as well.

The team from North Carolina's Doctors Vision Center--Suzanne Berardi, Sherrie Rogerson and Sandy Smith--said they came to "meet with all our vendors at one time, and see all the departments within those companies to plan how we'll work with them in 2005."

At Nouveau, SpongeBob and Patrick flank a fan.

The three came to Expo East looking (they buy afterward, back at the office) for "new products and interesting new technology, as the chain goes more high-tech. We had a fabulous 2004 across the board," Smith commented, "and the first quarter has been very good so far."

Lucius and Linda Cannady, owners of One Hour Optical in Colonial Heights, Va., are opening a second location soon. They headed for Expo East to outfit the new store with product, accessories, furnishings, and machinery and had already purchased a Santinelli multi-function drill by Friday.

Janie Blackstock of Horizon Eye Care, an ophthalmic practice with 16 MDs in Charlotte, N.C., said this year's Expo East had "a good turnout, with nice products and services," and noted that show attendees seem "upbeat and positive and are happy with the vendors." Her practice is up 10 percent compared to last year, Blackstock said.

"I don't browse much--I come to the show with an agenda," Richard Jankowitz of Plandome Vision Center in Manhasset, N.Y., told VM. "I came to see the Michael Kors collection, the new Gucci line and to find some kids' sunwear. Our office is like the Nordstrom's of eyewear--it's designed like a living room; the frames are displayed by brand and we present them as a collection."

"We really enjoyed seeing the Judith Leiber collection--overall, we've noticed that stones are back and big styles are back," said Karen Cohn of Baltimore's Braver/Hameroff. Added Cohn's Braver/Hameroff colleague C.D. Eichler, "There seems to be a lot more guerilla marketing at the show. Companies are coming up with new ideas like drawings and things to get you into their booths."

Sunwear was the Expo East focus of Elizabeth Minutti of Sungate, in Warwick, R.I. "We have a newly launched private-label line, Sunsmith, and I'm interested in sunlenses, particularly polarized lenses," she told VM.

Cindy Smith, Barbara Sebastian, Laurie Mantzer and David Bryden, OD, visited the show from ProOptix of Harrisburg, Pa. "We're looking for unusual frames, styles that are not in the mainstream," Bryden said. "We're also looking at patternless edgers--I've narrowed it down to a few, and will probably buy one of them."

Jennifer Battiato

Said Jennifer Battiato, OD, of Washingtonville Eye Associates in Blooming Grove, N.Y., "My husband and I came to the show very focused; we knew what we wanted to buy. We are looking at lab equipment, and bought a patternless edger. We're also looking at tinting equipment and high-end frames."

Brian Olzinski, OD, of Wind Gap, Pa., is going to Arizona as the winner of the Vision Dollars award at Vision Expo East. The contest, sponsored by L'Amy, rewards show-shoppers for their purchases from show exhibitors with exclusive discounts and prizes. Here, L'Amy marketing manager Cheryl Canning waves Olzinski's prize-winning entry.

Cheryl Sinclair an optician with a Spencer, Ind., practice, said, "I can only go to one show a year, so East is my best chance of seeing the most diverse range of companies for all our frame buying. I like seeing our usual reps, but the best thing about this trade show is just looking at some of the smaller booths for display ideas. And everyone is so friendly I usually make three or four new contacts. It really helps when you can find a collection that feels exclusive to your region of the country. Our patients really like that, especially when I can tell them a bit about the history of the eyewear and the people that design it."

Education a Big Draw
For some Vision Expo East attendees, the variety of continuing education offered was what brought them to the event.

"I mainly came to Vision Expo for the CE courses," commented Mihai Busuioc, OD, of Fort Lee, N.J. "I also want to see what's new in eyewear. I've read about a lot of the collections before coming to the show, but it's nice to see it in person."

Howard Fishman

Said Howard Fishman, OD, of Lake Success, N.Y., an Expo East veteran since 1979, "I came specifically to take a class on advances in stem-cell research. I'm a corneal specialist, and this information is very appropriate for me. I've never seen a course like this offered anywhere else."

Mark Chasse, OD, an independent optometrist in Cromwell, Conn., declared himself "very enthusiastic" about this year's Expo East. "The main thing for me is to bring my staff to Vision Expo to take continuing education courses," Chasse said. "I have a large staff, many of them relatively new, and I found the new Boot Camp important for us. In general, Vision Expo gets better every year."

--Cathy Ciccolella with contributions from Andrew Karp, Caletha Crawford, Seth J. Bookey, James Spina, Gloria Nicola, Jackie Micucci and Marge Axelrad.