NEW YORK—When Essilor bought several of its biggest U.S. wholesale distributors in 1996, it sparked a consolidation trend that quickly spread throughout the industry. Over the subsequent two decades, that trend, driven by a push by suppliers to vertically integrate their businesses, has drastically reshaped the Rx lab business in the U.S. Now that the consolidation trend is winding down, a handful of new independent labs have emerged over the past couple of years prompting us to ask ‘Why is now a good time to start a new lab?’ VM interviewed executives from three different start-up labs. Interestingly, all of them are veteran lab owners and operators. Here’s what we learned as we kick off The Modern Lab, a new quarterly series that explores trends impacting wholesale labs. Read More