Aug
28
By Jack Krayenhoff
Walk into Rx Eyewear (across from Thrifty's on Menzies) and right away you feel: this owner, Brian Cloosterman, has his heart in his business. Not only is the office laid out attractively and with flair, but it is immaculately finished in every detail. It suggests that this optician takes pride in his profession.
One might think the job of an optician is simply to fill the prescription you bring from the eye specialist or the optometrist, and put the lenses in the frame you have selected. That is indeed what he does, but it is not so simple, because the lenses have to be placed in the frame just right, precisely centred, plus they have to be ground with great precision, to fit the frame. In the back of his store, Brian has some sophisticated (and expensive!) machines that will do a first-class job of all that.
But his greatest pride and joy is a piece of equipment called Visioffice, which is available in only 300 optician's offices in all of Canada. This will take some measurements, for instance the distance between your eyes and the lenses, the angle of orientation, the curvature of the lenses in front of the eye, and even your personal habits of looking, which must be taken into consideration to determine the shape of the lenses. When these data are incorporated, when the lenses are ground, you get absolutely first class, state-of-the art glasses, with improved sharpness, contrast and comfort in wearing them. It adds to the price, but, as a client said, 'with these, I can see twice as well'. Of course if price is the main priority, one can also opt for the basic product, that is glasses without these refinements.
Talking about money, how come glasses are cheaper at Costco and similar chain stores? Brian says that is more appearance than reality. "These stores have huge advertising budgets, and that creates this impression of a good deal which people have, but it is actually misleading. I encourage my clients to check it out for themselves. When they do that and compare apples with apples, they find that my prices are extremely competitive - in fact better, in many cases".
What is his main source of satisfaction in his job? "That it is perfectly suited for my skill-set", he says. "I am very detail-oriented, and love precision, and that's what this work demands. And it's great to have satisfied clients."
Brian Cloosterman is also an enthusiastic citizen of James Bay. I love it", he says, "Its's a terrific community." He used to be involved in a business association that was responsible for placing the benches at the five-point intersection, but for the last two years he has been preoccupied with the renovations in his store.