20 Questions
WITH
EDWARD BEINER
Edward Beiner is chief visionary officer of the Edward Beiner Group, a Miamibased eyewear retailer, designer and manufacturer of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses and its chain of Edward Beiner Purveyor of Fine Eyewear stores throughout Florida. VCPN’s John Sailer asked him to share his observations based on more than three decades in the eyewear business. might change in the next few years as these Millennials get older and find jobs that might require a different look.
Millennials are going with large frames, the late ‘70s early ‘80s look, big square frames, oversized, mostly metals. Baby Boomers wore that when they were teenagers, so they are a bit more conservative. 1. What frame styles have you seen maintain their popularity over the years? Your classic
shape is a P3. Some form of an oval has been around in all these years I’ve been in business, be it in acetates or be it in metals. That is the one consistent product throughout the ages. 2. In what colors? The colors keep chang-
ing. Sometimes the tortoiseshells are more prevalent, sometimes the different colors of tortoiseshells or even black. 3. What trends are you seeing these days? There is a demographic separation
of how styles are worn. Millennials are going with large frames, the late ‘70s early ‘80s look, big square frames, oversized, mostly metals. The other end of the spectrum, the Baby Boomers wore that when they were teenagers. They don’t look cool trying that look, so they are a bit more conservative. Those trends V I S I O N C A R E P RO D U C T N E WS . C O M
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4. Will anything on the horizon change things? I keep hearing about and I’ve seen
eyeglasses that are really tiny. Some collections in sunglasses have strong cat eyes with very small eye sizes. In the sunglass world there’s a transition already taking place. It takes a little bit longer for it to come into the Rx world. 5. Do you have any advice for independents that want to grow? The world is changing
8. Any other suggestions for updating your look and creating an in-store experience?
There is also technology now. We use the Smart Mirror for measurements, for explanations, and it shows what the anti-reflective lens is like and other products like that. So, some technology is important, but it can’t just be technology for the sake of technology. It has to be useful. 9.That’s after you have them inside. How do you get them into the store in the first place?
Branding your business is number one. Number two is PR, all sorts of PR, including all social media, your website, print.
fairly fast. I see demographics as the biggest issue. We’re split between Baby Boomers who have a lot of money still and those who don’t and are worried about how they’ll retire, and you have a group of young professionals starting to have the ability to spend. How do you take care of a younger market without scaring your older market and vice versa?
10. What’s the most effective way to use social media? Social media is important. You need to
6. How should eyewear retailers react?
think of them as 11 separate children. Their markets are different. We have stores here in Miami. We have stores a little bit north in Boca, Palm Beach and so on, and then we have Orlando and Naples. These children all behave slightly differently. There’s a 60% match in product, particularly sunglasses, but then the other 40%, the prescription glasses, becomes a bit different. Part of it could be, again, age. Part of it can be where people are from. Different ethnic groups like buying different colors, different materials, be it metal or plastic. In the south part of Florida we can have a lot of South American tourists, so we cater to them. From Boca north are northeasterners.
Stores need to be updated. That doesn’t mean they have to look wild, but they need to have a 21st century look. You need to adapt, to change, to create experiences, but more than anything it’s about service. 7. How do you create these in-store experiences? It’s about being able to communicate what
you are selling, and I don’t care if that’s a $100 pair of eyeglasses or a $1,000 pair of eyeglasses. What’s the story behind the frame? Bring in the individuals behind the design so there’s a direct connection to the product. We fail sometimes to explain the craftsmanship, the details that go into it, the people behind it.
be active, know who your client is, approach them and offer events, from trunk shows to beer tastings, wine tastings, things that are of interest to bring people into your shop. 11. How do you go about deciding which frames to carry? We have 11 stores. I like to
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