Pierre Keyser

One thing that can be said definitively about Pierre Keyser, L.E.A.D. Ameriques's new president, is that the 36-year old husband and father is a fighter. "To me, [boxing] is the ultimate workout," says Keyser. "If you go into the ring and you're fighting with someone, you can't be thinking of your business or anything else. You have to really focus. And in this business and the pace we go, you need something like that -- to once in a while check-out."

Keyser began his career with L.E.A.D. -- the California-based distributor of such luxury eyewear as Cartier and Mont Blanc -- 15 years ago. Fresh out of college, he began as a sales rep and worked his way to the vice presidency. In November, after the resignation of then-President Jean Pierre Dorard, Keyser assumed his current role.

What are your plans for L.E.A.D.?

For the longest time, we've had a pretty hardcore approach to protecting the brands that we deal with, particularly Cartier. We've established very strong relationships with a lot of the suppliers and our dealers, and what we want to do is to not only enhance them even more but truly build up the partnership concept to the next level, where people can turn to us as consultants in the luxury and high-end fields.

How can a dispenser break into the high-end market?

You have to focus on service -- people can buy product anywhere. First, you have to make sure that your location is a high-end location. The merchandising in your store and the feel of your store must say high-end as well.

Then there's the staff. A lot of places claim to be high-end, but you go in there and the coldest person you've ever met is working there. And, of course, they have to have the product. You have to have commitment to go into high-end. You can't also sell a $79.99 complete type of eyewear. You have to pick one or the other.

Do you feel that there is still room for more dispensers in the high-end market?

I think there's tremendous room. There are very few people in the country that you could classify as high-end. More and more companies that are not optical in nature are going into this business because they're realizing that there is a huge potential here.

Is there room for product growth in high-end? Or, is there an oversaturation of brands?

There's definitely too many pretenders. I've been in the business 15 years and I remember the names that were there before. None of them except for us, Ray-Ban, and Christian Dior are left. So there's a lot of people who come on the market that will be like a fad for a while. There's too much product competing for the same dollars.

A lot of the guys that we deal with are not that sophisticated in how they buy. So, they buy the latest trend or fad to stay up with the Joneses. So when you look at the industry as a whole, most of the stores are way overstocked in product. EB