Dutch financial authority “Financieel Dagblad” (Financial Newspaper) last Friday published a major article called “Golden times to come for smart opticians”. Good news. The reason for the article was the possible IPO of the optical retail division of HAL Investment, owner of Grand Vision and many other optical stores worldwide. The article reviews the current situation based on interviews with Jan Weber (chairman of Optitrade Retail Group), Marc Asselbergs, President of the Opticians Union and myself as editor in chief of this website and consultant for quite some of the leading optical stores in the Netherlands. The conclusion is that although times are changing in our branch as well, the opportunities are still massive for those opticians who dare to make choices, dare to change and dare to face the challenges. What once was good is no longer a guarantee of success in the future. New players change the rules and those who anticipate first, create the best chances for their companies. The perception of quality changes, loyalty is under pressure, communication becomes more and more important. There is a lot of work to do, many challenges to face. But for the real entrepeneurs it only makes the game more interesting.
