Did work in Europe for many years.........................
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wes
So how would opticians of the past deal with the proliferation of onliners and their proscribed theft of services?
In my young days as an optician in Europe, we had a very similar expierience when the discounters started out and they got a good fight on their hands by the established optical retail industry.
Discount opticians all set themselves up on the second floor of a commercial building where they paid a cheap rent and the overhead was much lower. So you could recognice them already by their location.
The established B&M store owners in every town got together and formed a local association, decided who where their regular suppliers for frames, lenses, labs and accessories. Then these companies would be contacted by letter, signed by all the owners that they would be cut off by all of them as suppliers them if they would sell to the discounter opticians.
A friend of my father, in Kiel Germany, (President of the German Optical Master Association) opened a branch office in another location on the second floor of a fancy commercial building, a regular store that had nothing to do with discounted optics.
As soon a he opened he got cut off by the major suppliers who followed the general agreement and he had to fight them with all his means.
Until the case was resolved he used to tell his customers " would you like a ZEISS lens or something better".
The system worked for at least 25 years until it got discontinued. However I don't think that anything close to it could work on this continent, there is too much chaos too even try anything close.