Thinking of opening an opticians -what would persuade you to come to me for your eyecare?

[EyeOpener]

I've got one opticians practice already, which I took over when the previous owner retired. I'm now thinking of opening a second practice in a small town 20 miles away.

The town I'm thinking of doesn't have an opticians already, the nearest competition is 5 miles away, which is an independent practice, and a specsavers. But I don't imagine many people would travel to this town as it's a bit downmarket compared to the more affluent town I'm looking at. Otherwise it's at least 15 miles to a larger town with all the usual high street names and independents.

So, whether you use an opticians at the moment or not, could I ask you to consider what would persuade you to come to my practice instead of your current optician, if you lived in this town and:

a) are the parent of a preschool or primary age child
b) are the parent of a teenager
c) wear glasses all the time
d) wear glasses some of the time
e) wear contact lenses

Although I will have some frames available with an NHS voucher, I'm not really going to try to compete on price, ( but in reality won't actually be that much more expensive than the likes of specsavers etc ) and I'll have an amazing frame selection :)

How important is distance from home, free parking, opening times, personal and individual service?

What could your current opticians do better?

Thanks! Any comments gratefully received.

Oh, just thought of something else!! When you try glasses on, they always have a sticker on one side. This can make it difficult to see if they suit you, especially if, like me, you are blind as a bat!!

Agree that it's a combination of service and price. There's an independent opticians near me which does vintage frames, definitely a unique selling point

So many replies! Thank you all for your input. Some things we do already, but a few things have been noted esp wrt preteen frames. But to summarise, you'd all desert your current opticians to me, for:

Coffee / hot chocolate / water

Something to keep kids entertained

Clear pricing, minimal extra add ons

Opening times / late evening / parking

Repairs & adjustment service

Friendly and knowledgeable staff, no ham fisted optometrists, continuity of staff

Window displays volestar

Frames for pre teens ( do you want brands at this age, or well fitting trendy frames, not childish?)

Frame choice for all budgets, but also something different eg vintage, or independent designers

Discount on 2nd pairs of frames

Finally, good service and all of the above is more important than price (and hopefully the influence of TV advertising by the big high street opticians)

DontCallMeDaughter perhaps you can make the trip up to Yorkshire instead of Devon?!

I agree with the ease of parking.

Stock frames for women with smaller heads and people who can fit frames properly. I don't know if it should be the optician fitting the frame?

I chose a frame once and the fitter bent the frame to fit my face. It fell apart less than a year later.

The thing I do like about my optician's is that they take a photo of your eyeballs every time and keep them on file, presumably to check for changes.

This has been a real eye opener for me (sorry!). I've been a Specsavers' customer since I was ten, and I've continued to go back to them because of their offers. I've always perceived independent opticians to be more expensive, so haven't even considered popping my head round the door to browse. It's people like me you need to get in so they realise you're not pricey!

Also, for me personally I'd want it to be a bit of an experience. So YY to the coffee and have a lovely little anteroom for fittings and discussions on products (carpet so deep piled you could lose a shoe in it is always good). Also a selection of frames for people with small faces would be fantastic- it's the number one thing I hate about going to find new glasses, everything I try on just seems too "big" for my tiny face.

I have no kids, but I would say that children's play areas can look a bit natty after a while. Keep an eye on the condition of the toys and books.

I would not want coffee. It implies there is going to be a waiting time above and beyond what is expected. (Equally with games)
I want my optician to focus on my eyes, not make and serve coffee, and clear up after people drinking coffee. (or handle issues related to the Xbox) If I want coffee, I got to Costa, not to the optician.

I think as a business person you must not stray from your core focus.

What is important to me:

-Free parking nearby
-Short if any waiting time
-Professional and knowledgeable service
-Decent choice in lenses and frames
-EMERGENCY STOCK for when I have forgotten to put my lens order in;

• Automatic reordering of prescription for contact lenses every three months with just a text to remind me that "your lenses are ready for collection", or just be sent out to me and charged direct debit. Once a year a text to say "Please book your appointment for a follow up as we need to check your eyes and your prescription prior to ordering new"

I would not expect you to faff about on social media.

But do get a website up and running, and connect with Google Plus and Google maps, and accept reviews.

If you call your optician the same name as the first, so the Marley and the Carley branch, it gives more weight than two separate independent entities.

Oh, and include the odd glasses wipes for free as a nice gesture when I pay, just smile while you drop it in my bag and say "thats ok, we value your custom" or something equally cheeky.
And let me have my free emergency stock for free.

My optician does this. And I love them. Will never return to Boots. Their customer service is second to none. I was stupid and ran out of lenses just after I had returned to the uk, before going away for half term. I had not managed to register with an optician yet, and realized on Friday that I needed new contact lenses Saturday morning.
Not ONE optician in town would agree to sell me contact lenses based on my old opticians prescription, they all required me to come in for an eye test FIRST. No exception. Not even my old optician that I used prior to going to Norway, and who had 7 years of custom on in their files would do it (Boots)

They said, "email you your prescription, I will check if we have it in stock and call you back" They called back a few moments later and told me I could pick them up as and when. They let me have 1 week supply free, I booked an appointment for an eye test for after half term, and they gained a new customer for contact lenses and glasses.

1. My kids always want to play with the glasses in display. For a kids table I would set it up with a box of different weird and wonderful frames they could play with.

1. I need help when I choose my frames! I'm never sure what suits me, and if someone really took some time to help me pick nice frames, without being driven to sell the most expensive pair I would come back time and time again.

Good luck

Not brands, don't want any extra expense, just smaller sized teen style frames and a few larger simple purple/blue child frames (preteens grow up at vastly different rates).

At 9 DD2 was happy with pink frames, at 11 she choose very adult black frames (although with animal print backs)

Choice, as with clothes, is the problem.

My opticians has been independent, DA and now boots, but they are always lovely. (I thing Boots optician actually gets the prescription best).

DH, who is even fussier than me, is very pleased with his reading glasses.

Yes to some sort of price list, in web is fine I know it's complicated. I want some varifocals and a Boots, spec savers (which would be far more petrol and parking) would really help.

But most of all being cheerful, approachable, chatty and helpful. I find the medical examination bit (like all things medical) a bit stressful.

And yes to web cam, iPad etc so you can take pictures of us in our frames and we can see what we look like from a proper distance. No one normally looks at my face standing on my toes!

Nice opticians who can cope with children who struggle to read and dont tell my severely dyslexic child off for not being able to read.
Being willing to fix kids glasses.

Price is the most important thing for me. So if you can sell me two pairs of very high index lens glasses for under £100 then I would give you my trade rather than Asda! I know that you would never be able to though as Asda, or someone, makes a loss on them! The pricing structure at Asda is clear and up front, I always prefer that,so that anyone can easily work out how much their glasses are, too many add ons to the banner price irritates me, as does offers which don't include my type of lenses! E.g. Specsavers, buy one get one free, but not the 2nd thinned down, so why would I bother!

I found that independent stores don't tend to have the same level of machines to do eye health checks as bigger stores.

I think opening hours would swing things for me. Our opticians opens 9-5 Mon-Fri and saturday morning.
Any optician open in the evening and Sundays would get a lot of business from the majority of us who have to work- would also attract people who have a bit more money to spend.

I don't know if you're still interested in replies OP (just found this thread...), but in the spirit of research....:

As above, no coffee thanks. It implies I'm going to be waiting for ages. Also, for me, opticians/ eye tests are slightly medical and I'd want that to be clean and fresh smelling, not the whiff of coffee about the place.

What about specialist glasses? My dad does welding and fine precision work that requires a sharp eye. The trouble he has getting glasses to fit (his apparently large head!!!), with safety bits on the side and that don't break easily is crazy. The girls in spec savers just keep offering him designer frames and bog off deals - useless.

Re. online stuff. I know Boots do an offer where you get you're test half price if you book on line. Big incentive.