Amalgamation Continues...

[HindSight2020]

It is evident that Rodenstock Canada has been enduring challenging times in the last few years in the Canadian market, however must be real bad when a company 'hands' over distribution rights since there was no mention of a financial transaction to secure the rights.

It will be interesting to see how this amalgamation plays out long term since Seiko now has another brand with distribution rights to contend with through their same exclusive Canadian distributor.

Hoya owns the rights to Seiko globally; the crystal ball predicts there's more changes to follow...

http://www.opticalprism.ca/plastic-p...nstock-canada/

[Chris Ryser]

It is evident that Rodenstock Canada has been enduring challenging times in the last few years in the Canadian market, however must be real bad when a company 'hands' over distribution rights since there was no mention of a financial transaction to secure the rights.

Isidore Bernstein used to sell Rodenstock frames successfully in Canada with his company a long time ago. We were competitors at that time he sold Rodenstock and I sold Nigura which also had become Rodenstock later on. When he quit due to old age nobody could make a success out of it.

However their Rodenstock lenses never where promoted properly in Canada and now they will be, by a lab who has a top class reputation and run by a top class optical family.

I learned that in 1967 in a hand shake deal with the father of Paul Faibish that my frame business would multiply manifolds in Toronto and it did. And by the way I am still learning.

[HindSight2020]

Isidore Bernstein used to sell Rodenstock frames successfully in Canada with his company a long time ago. We were competitors at that time he sold Rodenstock and I sold Nigura which also had become Rodenstock later on. When he quit due to old age nobody could make a success out of it.

However their Rodenstock lenses never where promoted properly in Canada and now they will be, by a lab who has a top class reputation and run by a top class optical family.

I learned that in 1967 in a hand shake deal with the father of Paul Faibish that my frame business would multiply manifolds in Toronto and it did. And by the way I am still learning.

Correct, they never were promoted properly by their own company! It's too little too late in my opinion. They are merely a stock warehouse with semi-finished blanks on the shelf. The Canadian lens market is declining with non domestic competition increasing - a lethal formula.

[optimensch]

The Canadian lens market is declining with non domestic competition increasing - a lethal formula.

I suppose this happens in most markets and in most industries. In terms of being lethal - do you mean to Canadian lens wholesalers/suppliers/labs? Or to ECPs and consumers as well...

[HindSight2020]

I suppose this happens in most markets and in most industries. In terms of being lethal - do you mean to Canadian lens wholesalers/suppliers/labs? Or to ECPs and consumers as well...

Detrimental to wholesale suppliers...but is mostly a plus to ECP's since it creates more competition amongst the suppliers. And with more competition comes greater selection and better pricing.

However, the negative aspect to ECP's that more non branded inferior quality products flood the market which isn't good for the ECP or the consumer. I see it everyday and I always say the proof is in the pudding.

You can dress crap up in a tuxedo with a bow tie, but it's still crap underneath the layers.

In regards to Rodenstock lenses in particular, they have always been very good quality and designs in my opinion. It's a shame that Europe and the U.S. kept pace but the Canadian unit did not. A few years ago, they were given a few MIL from head office to expand their Canadian facility and open their own lab complete with coating centre etc., but they sat on the money too long without implementing expansion and Germany eventually made the call to reroute the capital investment funds to the U.S....snooze you lose.

[idispense]

How did the USA chain of distributors do with it ? Wasn't there a string of hopefuls one after the other and each time a cheerful press release? Are any still in business distributing Rodenstock in the USA ?

Were the lens distribution rights tied to the frame portion as well or were the lens and frame rights mutually exclusive of each other ? Did either succeed or did the frame portion kill the lens business ?