I love it when I get a visit from the beast. To be honest, I rarely check my daily visitor logs (who has time?), but when I do, one of my favorite views is the "recent visitor map". It never fails to motivate me to continue when I see visitors from all over the planet.

There are a few places that I look specifically, though; the LensCrafters HQ in Ohio and the Mothership di'supremo in Milan, Italy. I got a visit from Cincinnati, this afternoon.

No topic has contributed more forum posts than those of pupillary distance and how angry some optical folks get when asked to provide it (the police were called -- BY THE OPTOMETRIST -- in one of the stories).

It dawned on me today as I read the seemingly thousandth forum post on the subject of PD, that if online glasses were truly inferior to their severely overpriced mall-store cousins, it would be in LensCrafters' best interest to gladly provide PD measurements to any and all who asked.

Upon delivery, if these online eyeglasses were so bad, people would surely flock back to the mall to pay the $400 "bad-eyesight tax", thanking the lab-coated cashier all the while for taking their money.

LensCrafters isn't doing this because they know that their 1000% mark-ups are in serious danger of evaporating (even further) once the toothpaste is fully out of the tube. Look at the recent Q1 2009 profit numbers for Luxottica (#1) and Saffilo (#2):

Luxottica: First quarter profits fall 36%

Safilo: First quarter net-profit falls 87%, net sales drop 11.7%.

If I was an investor, I'd be quite uncertain of a bounce even when the economy starts to head upwards. If I cared about those around me, I'd help spread the word. ;-)

I wrote about this on Suxottica.com, but wanted to call it out over here at GlassyEyes. I wonder how much thought they're putting into the online competition. LensCrafters is dead to me -- and increasingly so to pretty much everyone I come across who wears glasses.

Seems they expect things to get better in six months or so. I think this "economic downturn" has potential to be a boon for the online eyeglasses retailer. They need to continue to deliver, quality, value and please, oh please, some new (but not so gosh darn trendy) frame designs..

NOTE TO RETAILERS: I'm open to discuss this with you.

I'd guess Luxottica is aware of the online places, but probably unaware of the movement beginning to really take hold. Big companies are always the last to know -- they have so many layers of insulation.

I've never masked my disdain for Luxottica and what they've done to the optical industry here (in the States) and increasingly around the world. I've been kicking this idea around for quite awhile. 

Most of the eyeglasses-related email I get has a lot to do with the economy. It seems to have ramped up a bit over the past few months. Just this week I got three emails with socio-economic themes.

One of the emails I got was from an electrician struggling mightily to keep his going. He did a little math and reinvested the savings into big oil the business.

"I usually spend almost $600 on my bifocals. I just spent $89. I have a fleet of six Econoline vans to fill every day or two. Your site just saved me a day or two of fuel expense with enough left over for lunch and dinner. Did I mention, that the glasses are perfect?"

Another came from a single mother -- and I get these a lot. Her daughter broke her glasses (again) and even with the "deals" she thought she was getting at her optometrist, she was going to have to add to her debt to get it taken care of before school started.

"My cube-mate showed me your site and said, 'one of these place might have kids glasses.' I was blown away!!! ...I able to get her glasses replaced for $40! Budgeting for the next time they break or get lost won't be such a huge problem."

The last one came from a friend who recently lost his job. He went fishing with his dad a few weeks ago and lost his prescription sunglasses over the side of the boat. He was planning on doing without -- having far too much self-respect to go for the traditional old-guy clip-on flip-up.

"And then I remembered your site! ...skipped the polarization on these, but $24? Even I can afford that! They turned out great. Thank you, Thank you!"

I've heard grumblings about how this effects our economy negatively. All of this "buying eyeglasses from China" business. Here's my take. Yes, many of the frames are made in China. How does that differ from most of the frames you buy in the store? Not in any meaningful way -- except you're not going to get a big (I'd argue horrendous) "DG" emblazoned on the temple.

Additionally, what is often forgotten in the equation is what happens to the money saved by not overspending by a factor of ten. It's not flushed down a toilet. It goes into our lives in such meaningful ways. Perhaps two or three trips to the grocery store for a family of 5 (I've got three kids) -- keeping the money local rather than in the pocket of some Italian billionaire.

There are a number of great benefits to living within a five mile radius of the Mall of America; people watching, getting rid of the winter blues for even an hour on a Tuesday evening in February, and seeing how corporate retail is doing its best to eliminate or consume the competition. That last one and the fact that it is an iconic example for the needs of this post are the most important to me right now.

Case in point, this is a mall with over 500 stores. There are 18 jewelry stores, 33 stores that sell shoes, and 51 carts (spreading like a cancer) to fight past in the walkways.

There are also 7 stores that deal with eyeglasses. Of these seven, four deal specifically with prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses. THREE OF THESE FOUR are owned by the Italian Luxottica Group S.p.A. -- I've never seen a customer in the fourth one.

Luxottica is the closest thing to a monopoly, I can come up with. Are you pissed off at LensCrafters? Just go to Pearle Vision right? Nope. Same company. Surely, Target or Sears will get you clear of the bad taste LenCrafters has left you with. No again.

Luxottica, founded by the extremely wealthy ($11.5B, Top 50 Richest Globally) Leonardo Del Vecchio has its hands in the eyeglasses market from nearly every angle; retail, wholesale, licensed and house brands (perhaps you read about them purchasing Oakley a few weeks back for over $2.5 BILLION)...

They even have a scam going in the optical insurance arena. If you have EyeMed Insurance, it's not in your best interest to use any of the Luxottica retailers/brands. More on that in a future article.

I knew they were omnipresent in this industry, but it never dawned on me that they were in so deep. How the Federal Trade Commission has allowed this to happen over and over again with Luxottica should have you shaking your head in the same way I'm shaking mine. I'm not a business writer, so if you're interested, this article will give you a better idea of the specifics of the deal.

There are only a few ways to avoid the Luxottica steamroller:

• shop the little guy and avoid these brands (Arnette, Killer Loop, Luxottica, Persol, Ray-Ban, Revo, Sferoflex, Vogue, Adrienne Vittadini, Anne Klein, Brooks Brothers, Bvlgari, Byblos, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, D&G, Donna Karan, DKNY, Genny, Miu Miu, Moschino, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Salvatore Ferragamo, Sergio Tacchini, Versace, Versus)


• shop at Costco, Sams Club or Walmart (shudder) and avoid the same list of brands


• shop online, at one of the stores listed at the top of each of the pages on this site

I think the third option is the most cost-effective. I think you'll agree.

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