Hi Folks,
I'm Clive, and am based in Israel. I've been a regular lurker of the Optiboard for a couple of years now and through these columns, not only have I made some good friends, but also some great business contacts.
This new design of the board opens up all sorts of extra possibilities, and I particularly welcome the International Forum.
On looking through the general postings, it seems that the majority of contributors are from the USA, but I do know that there are many people who access this site from countries all over the world. One person did mention to me that he would like to post a message but feels his English is not good enough.
Well, I have to tell you, it really doesn't matter. I've seen postings on other boards (outside of optics!) with many spelling and grammatical mistakes, it's not important, what does matter is taking part, and exchanging ideas.
I'm a Dispensing Optician, trained in the UK in the 60s, my mentor at college was Mo Jalie and I have to tell you, not a day goes by in the practice or lab when I don't think of him and some tip he gave us.
I moved out to Israel about 20 years ago and am happy to say that together with my partners, also British trained Optometrists, we've managed to build up a small group of practices with the emphasis on quality, and have managed to keep away from price cutting and giving 'two for the price of one'
We also run a Low Vision Clinic and hold a stock of various instruments, magnifiers and CCTV items. One of our Optometrists also handles Visual Training.
Israel is a small country, but we have over 500 Optical stores.
The majority are 'one man' businesses and there are 4 or 5 small chains.
There are only 4 Rx Labs and as far as frames are concerned, almost every name is represented here.
That's enough about me, I know we'd all like to hear from people around the world, and how Optics works in your country.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
All best, Clive
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