16.10.09 | Optician | 47opticianonline.net

Practice of the Week

This practice in London’s West End specialises in contact lens care but also offers an impressive range of upmarket, high fashion frames to appeal to an affluent clientele

● If you would like your practice featured, email Kay Hevey at kay.hevey@rbi.co.uk for a questionnaire and mark the subject ‘Practice of the Week’. Please return the questionnaire with up to three high resolution images (including frontage) and we shall endeavour to include your practice in this series.

David Clulow, Wigmore St, London

How long has the practice been established? Fourteen years.

Number of staff and their main rolesSeven members of staff in total: manager (also dispensing optician), assistant manager, three optical assist-ants (two of whom are DOs), two optometrists.

What typifies the sort of patients you see? Wigmore Street is a specialist contact lens practice so we have a high proportion of complex contact lens patients. Our patients tend to be high earning professionals, VIPs or overseas customers that return to us annually.

What percentage of your patients wear contact lenses? Eighty per cent, a very high percentage of contact lens wearers.

Describe your favourite type of patient and explain why. Patients who appreciate the advice and level of service we can offer them. All of our staff from optometrists to optical assistants are trained to provide the best possible advice for our patients in terms of contact lenses/lens choice/frame choice. It is always rewarding when the patients recognise this and benefit from our recommendations.

What is the estimated size of your patient base? 6,000.

How many days a week are you open?Six. We close on Sundays.

Describe one area of your practice service that you would like to highlight. Our contact lens service is compre-hensive and something we are very proud of. We work closely with lens manufacturers to make sure we offer the newest technologies and developments in lenses as possible. Our patients also come to us because we have the largest range of lens options including RGP and custom-made soft lenses. However, the key strength you will notice on coming into the store is our fantastic fashion offering. We have frames to suit every individual’s style, from the solid gold and jewelled models from Cartier, Bvlgari and Lindberg, to elegant classics from

Chanel and Prada and quirky shapes from Oliver Peoples and Face à Face. We really do cater for every taste.

What instrumentation or equipment are you proud of? We have a great range of testing equipment and find our topographer and fundus camera extremely useful both for testing and explaining conditions to our patients. We have recently had a Zeiss i-profiler installed, allowing us to provide customers with custom-made lenses, which is a huge benefit to some patients, especially for improving night vision.

How often do you change your window display? Our window display changes monthly, showcasing a different designer brand each time. We have had some amazing bespoke windows in the past from brands including Chanel, Oliver Peoples and Cartier which have proved hugely effective. What is the average eye examination time? A sight test takes 25 minutes, 50

minutes for a contact lens patient.

How many other practices are there within a one-mile radius of you?There are a huge number of other practices nearby including three other David Clulow practices, at least one of each of the major chains and an additional three independent opticians.

Best dispense in the last year. We recently had a patient who purchased a solid gold rimless Lindberg frame at £1,400 with i-scription varifocal lenses at 1.6, so the dispense came to £2,000 in total.

Trial frame or phoropter head? We use a phoropter head but always have a trial frame to hand in case it is more suitable for the patient.

Name three things in your waiting room. We have tried to make our waiting area specific to our particular patient base so we have a plasma screen showing News 24 to keep them up to date with the day’s events. We also have a water cooler and reading material – both clinical advice brochures and glossy magazines.

One surprising fact about the practice.Its size! We are very lucky to have a beautifully fitted exceptionally large practice, with a large display floor, space for dispensing, large waiting area, three testing rooms and a contact lens teach area.

One top tip that has benefited the practice. We have found that getting our optometrists involved with the beginning of the dispense gives our patients a great level of assurance in terms of our recommendations and leads to a higher conversion rate.

Why should your practice feature in Practice of the Week? Since the practice was re-fitted over a year ago we have worked to attain a very high level offering. From the equipment we have installed, to the product range to the level of service we provide. We feel that this careful mix is what makes us unique and guarantees our patients are happy with the service they receive and keep returning to us. ●

47 Practice of week 47 9/10/09 12:30:35