Click Company went bankrupt just like optician Hans Winkel at Amsterdam. The legendary and so often copied Cari Zalloni passed away just like SILMO President Guy Charlot and Het Huis and Hans Anders buyer Paul Mol. Each of them contributed in his own way to the development of this industry. The CvZO closed contracts with insurance companies. Not an unquestionable decision and the future will learn whether it was wise or not to join the insurance companies and encourage independent opticians to provide structurally discounts to major groups of consumers. Essilor launched its Varilux S series and took the initiative for a new opticians course at Eindhoven. The company heavily beliefs in a new generation of opticians who combine technical skills with a more entrepreneurial approach of their business. The Hoofdbedrijfschap Ambachten introduced a course for employees of Independent Opticians of which the first ones already got their certificate. A new group will start in February. The Independent Opticians showed themselves alive and kicking with even two major advertising campaigns. One which started last year and will continue next year pointing out that Independent Opticians are there for each and everyone. The second one warned for the danger of fireworks around Sylvester and was created in cooperation with famous writer, former Bond girl and television host Daphne Deckers. In addition the Independent Opticians published a Sunglasses Special and could be seen regularly on television where they informed about the trends and other interesting topics. Club BRILLANT launched a new website as well as a talk-of-the-town advertising campaign to confirm the authority of the members as the best opticians of the country. This year more activities of the group will follow. Remarkable was the amount of apps launched last year. HOYA seems the leader with Award winning apps to make the work in the store more efficient. Nothing said yet about the (inter)national fairs because there is nothing to say about it. The fairs don’t innovate, we see hardly any developments. As far as the trends are involved we see more lighter and subtle styles gaining ground against the heavy vintage stuff of the last years. Colour and more rounder shapes are favourite and metals make a comeback. Last but not least at the end of the year some Dutch opticians started a discussion about certification of the best stores. More about this and many other topics daily at Vision-Today.com and four times a year all analyses, opinions and much more in Vision-Today Printed.
