Mike Hale: Bricks and mortar strikes back

I spent an interesting day last weekend at the Nikon Business Conference. It’s never a great hardship to spend one’s Sunday at an establishment like the five-star Ham Yard Hotel in the West End of London but, as ever, the exchange of information and ideas was the real draw.

Nikon’s client base of independents skews toward high-end practices, often located in relatively affluent areas, so the conference’s focus on luxury was well-received. While I will reserve the main subject matter for a full report in an upcoming issue of Optician, I would like to share a fringe takeaway here that hopefully offers some optimism to practices preparing for an economically difficult 2023.