Practices are having to work harder to sell luxury designer frames as a result of the threat of recession, an Optician news poll around the country has revealed.
Some practices report they have found sales have been significantly affected by the credit crunch, although others, often shielded by their affluent locations, are selling just as many designer frames as before.
Situated in Hampstead, Arthur Morrice Opticians has seen luxury frame sales halve as a consequence of the credit crunch. Dispensing optician Maria Torounidou told Optician: 'The last month has been dreadful, it's awfully quiet and people seem reluctant to be spending any money. This time last year we were making three or four thousand pounds a day. This year we're only making half of that. People are really asking about how much frames cost, they're quite reluctant to spend.'
Describing her customers' cautious attitude towards purchase, she added: 'Before people would come back after a year and change their frames for new ones, now they're often using the same frames and changing the lenses.'
Simon Small, a dispensing optician at Boots Opticians in Wimbledon, confirmed customers' reluctance to spend money on luxury frames as a result of the current economic climate. 'The days of people coming to the front desk with two pairs of designer frames are over for the time being. Now people tend to buy only if they need to,' he said.
'People will always spend, but the conversion rate is down and the amount of customers coming in is down. You need to work harder to give people many more reasons top buy glasses. In Wimbledon people have money to spend, but they think things are quite bad, so are trying to wait for the moment,' added Small.
However, sales of luxury eyewear have remained as good as ever, according to dispensing optician Richard Clare of Clare and Illingworth Opticians in Knutsford: 'We're fully booked for two and a half weeks for eye tests and customers who have always been regularly updating their frames are still doing that. People who were always spending haven't stopped spending.'
Rico Blanc, practice manager of Dollond & Aitchison on Sloane Street, London, added: 'We just seem to be very busy at the moment, probably because of location because there are hardly any other opticians around this area. Our location has really insulated us against any change.'