By Andrew Karp / Group Editor, Lenses & Technology and Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Monday, November 2, 2020 12:30 AM
In the first days of the coronavirus pandemic, as states and municipalities began issuing shutdown orders, optical retailers and optometric practices across the country went into shock. With many offices closed and eyeglass shipments disrupted, the situation was chaotic.
“When everyone literally had the rug pulled out from under them, no previous systems you had in place were going to be helpful when you’re winging it,” recalled optician Ruth Domber, who co-owns 10/10 Optics, a popular optical boutique and optometric practice in New York City.
By Staff
Monday, October 21, 2019 12:00 AM
Vision Monday and LabTalk hosted the Modern Lab event, an hour-long session on Thursday that explored how smart investments enable optical labs to adapt and grow. Editors Andrew Karp and Brian Dunleavy presented the results of an exclusive research survey that probed investment trends among labs.
By Staff
Monday, October 22, 2018 12:00 AM
LAS VEGAS—Owners and executives from both large and small labs, addressed concerns, opportunities and the effects of emerging technology at The Modern Lab – Propelling Optical’s Smart Lab Era, hosted by Vision Monday and Lab Talk.
By Andrew Karp and Jeff Hopkins
Monday, September 17, 2018 12:30 AM
NEW YORK—In today’s ultra-competitive service economy, the pressure to deliver products and services when, where and how consumers want them—the so-called “Amazon effect”—impacts all suppliers. Eyecare professionals and optical retailers are feeling the heat, and so are the labs they depend on.
By Andrew Karp
Monday, September 11, 2017 1:00 AM
NEW YORK—The history of the modern U.S. wholesale business can be summed up with two aphorisms: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” and “Only the strong survive.” The first one applies to the dozens of labs that, over the past two decades, have been acquired by suppliers. The second applies to the wholesale labs that have remained independent. Both types of labs are represented in Vision Monday’s 2017 Top Labs Report, which ranks the industry’s largest labs.
By Andrew Karp
Monday, September 12, 2016 1:00 AM
NEW YORK—Vertical integration. Consolidation. Digital design and manufacturing. Breakthroughs in new materials and processes. The growth of managed vision care. Increasing venture capital investment.
It’s hard to think of a major optical industry trend over the past 25 years that wholesale labs haven’t been in the middle of and impacted by. That’s because wholesale labs are the industry’s middlemen, the conduit between manufacturers and the eyecare professionals and optical retailers that buy their products and services.
By Andrew Karp
Monday, September 12, 2016 12:56 AM
VM’s 25th annual Top Labs Report wouldn’t be complete without the perspective of wholesale lab executives who have experienced the changes that have reshaped the “labscape” over the past quarter century. So we asked some lab veterans what changes they think have been most significant, and why. Here’s what they told us.