Mike Hale: Congratulations on 30 years in business. How did you celebrate?
Phil Emerton: The WLC team celebrated with a huge cake and a meal out at a local restaurant. The workforce is extremely loyal and several staff members have been with the company for more than 10 years as they join and progress with us. It was a great opportunity to get together and celebrate this landmark occasion and thank our dedicated team.
MH: How did the formation of WLC come about 30 years ago? What was your background in optics at that point?
PE: WLC began as a three-person start-up in 1991. At the time, I ran the day-to-day operations drumming up orders with the two partners. My background was in optics with JB Fashions where I worked in the lens department dealing with customers and then went on to learn glazing and surfacing.
MH: What was the thinking behind the company?
PE: One-stop shopping for lenses has defined our business model since the beginning and the development of WLC into the company it is today. We opened the lens distribution business to service independent opticians with quality lenses at reasonable prices. The idea was quite revolutionary at the time and our ethos has always been about providing great service for our customers. As a result, it’s usually all hands-on deck in the warehouse until all orders are fulfilled and out the door.
Personal service has always been key and this has helped us form great relationships with our customers over the years. If someone has a problem we’re always there and will do our best to try to help find a solution.
MH: How has the company grown over the years?
PE: Today, the 46-person strong workforce delivers several thousand stock lenses each day. The company has evolved over the years as operations and premises change to adapt to increasing orders. The team used to all work together answering the phones and picking lenses but as we grew, we needed to split the jobs, so we all had a core focus. We decided to cross-train the team so they could do both jobs and that’s what we still do today. In our busy times at the end of the day, the call centre staff help in the warehouse, so we have an extra workforce selecting and packing lenses to ensure orders go out that night.
The company began operations in a tiny mezzanine floor above a factory, no more than 300 square feet, before later taking over the whole factory. The next few years saw the company grow, not only servicing independent opticians, but labs and groups as well. It was clear we had outgrown our original small warehouse and, by good fortune, a much larger unit became available across the road. We purchased 77 Gloucester Road in 1997 and a few years later we acquired number 73 and 75. This remains the location WLC still trades out of today, at 73-77 Gloucester Road in Croydon.
In 2009 WLC became partners with Essilor and with the support of its infrastructure and manufacturing it has added to its portfolio of lenses with more than 44,000 skus now in stock for next day delivery.
MH: What services and lenses are available from WLC?
PE: Stock lenses have always been and continue to be the core of our business. We always have over one million lenses in stock, and pride ourselves on stocking the widest selection of finished lenses in all materials. We serve as your warehouse next door and can save time, money and stress by consolidating stock orders with Rx orders.
MH: What products did you supply back in 1991?
PE: WLC was established with a mission to supply independent opticians and labs with a complete range of quality cr39 and mineral finished stock lenses. In the beginning we concentrated on assembling a range of glass and plastic stock lenses. As most opticians in those days had a small onsite lab, our aim was to cover most of their immediate stock requirements. A range of plastic, HC plastic, white glass and photochromic lenses seemed sufficient to service their immediate needs and to get started. We then adding 1.6 and 1.67 to our portfolio and were the first to offer 1.74 lenses as stock in the UK.
In the years that followed WLC grew to be the largest supplier of stock lenses in the UK and has continued to by adding a complete range of Rx lenses, including our Freeform Nova lenses in 2005 and more recently our range of Blue Light filter lenses.
MH: Which of WLC’s current state of the art lens products would have surprised you the most back in 1991?
PE: The answer would have to be the Nova Freeform range. Having done surfacing and seeing first-hand the factory, technology involved and the scale of automation, it is quite mind blowing.
MH: How has the lens industry changed over the past 30 years? What would you identify as the key milestones?
PE: There have been many changes and most of it is down to the advancements in technology. Wearing glasses was more of a necessity back then but now fashion plays a big part when choosing frames and lenses with so many options on offer. Multi-coated lenses had to be ordered as Rx orders with only a few labs in the country specialising in this, now multi-coated lenses are almost as popular as uncoated and offer many different functions such as anti-reflection, blue light blockers, light filters and infrared light filters. Photochromic technology has also moved on a lot in 30 years too.