Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133023
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That changed last year with the arrival of large optical chains in Roanoke and their accompanying big-budget advertising campaigns.
Now the valley has been identified by at least one industry analyst as one of the nation's newest "hot markets" for competitive optical retailers, right along with Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla.
Yet while Las Vegas' real estate boom and Orlando's tourist trade ensure those cities will have more than enough customers to go around, Roanoke already may be suffering oversaturation.
According to Cathy Ciccolella of VisionMonday, a trade publication, stable population growth and cutbacks by Norfolk Southern may mean Roanoke doesn't have enough customers to sustain all the vendors.
A market once comfortably shared by independents and a few regional chains, such as S. Galeski Optical and Richard Bartley Optical, has had to make room for "superstores" such as Lens Lab and Hourglasses.
Optometrist Ron Blum of Blum Newman Blackstock & Associates, which has 15 offices throughout Western Virginia, said his practice was forced to run "a ton" of advertisements after the "superopticals" moved into Roanoke. Additionally, one of its offices was updated to give it the superoptical look, and others soon will be.
"We had to run that foot race with them," Blum said. "We were trying our best to maintain our market."
Usually one superoptical would be sufficient for a population the size of Roanoke Valley's 250,000. The valley now has about six such shops, Blum said: "There is no way that the people can support that."
Blum added he believes the superopticals targeted Roanoke because most full-sized markets already have been saturated.
Even so, "competition is healthy" and Roanokers will benefit from it, Blum said. "The public has more choices than ever and can get glasses quicker than ever."
Steve Merricks, who recently changed the name of the business his father started in 1939 from Merricks & McFarland to Merricks Optical, has refused to join the advertising fray. Customers are still finding his downtown shop.
When the superopticals advertise, "the advertising they are doing helps me as much as it does them," Merricks said. "It encourages people to shop around."
Edward DeGennaro, who heads the optician's program at J. Sargent Reynolds Community College in Richmond, said the superopticals flourish because they can offer cut-rate prices. Ten years ago it was impossible to get glasses for the $29.95 that at least one chain is offering, he said.
"If there was no need for that product at that price, it would have closed long ago," DeGennaro said.
Merricks said he may not always be able to compete with the superopticals on price, but his business and other independents thrive on customer service.
"A happy customer will tell two or three people. An unhappy customer will tell everybody he sees," Merricks said. "I don't need that kind of negative publicity."
by CNB