Chris Bennett: Tide is turning for independent labs

It’s not often Optician’s hardened hacks are shocked by their own findings but our latest foray into the world of prescription houses provided some surprises.

This week’s issue is dedicated to prescription labs and the independent spectacle lens manufacturing sector. The heart of this coverage is a directory of UK independents labs.

The idea behind the prescription lab directory is to help independent practices find labs that are local to them or offer a specialism they require. Optician produced such a directory until a few years ago. At that point the marketing bods insisted the internet had made it unnecessary. How wrong. When Optician spoke to practices recently they expressed a desire to support fellow independent businesses and asked for links to labs and manufacturers to be included in Optician’s mix.