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Optics is growing but where is the value?

Business
Last week's Key Note report forecast doom and gloom for the independent sector. The chains, supermarkets and pharmacies will raise the temperature in the high street, it said, pushing competition to new heights. It also predicted growth in the sector, with more customers, more professionals and an increase in the importance of the eye test. So what does it all mean?

p8newsfocus.jpgLuckily for optics the population of the UK is ageing and people are spending more on their eyewear. By 2020, the UK population is forecast to increase to 64.4 million.The number of people aged over 45 will be 29.3 million, a fifth up on today's figure.

The good news doesn't stop there. New technologies and attitudes are encouraging take-up among younger people - the fashion frame phenomenon which has made wearing specs 'cool'. Also driving up the market are new contact lens technologies and the inexorable rise of laser eye surgery. Within five years refractive surgery will be worth more as a sector than contact lenses, said the report.

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