Sweet Idea

How one optical retailer turned a fixer-upper into a delectable business

By Erinn Morgan

When Monica George Krasinsky saw the run-down building in the heart of Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, she knew she just had to have it. Her goal: to renovate the structure to house Eye Candy, her optical shop, another retail storefront, and two condominiums while maintaining the original aesthetic and facade of the dilapidated building.

GREEN APPROACH

"We started remodeling in the beginning of April 2009 and it was ready to open in November 2009," says Krasinsky. "The hardest part was rehabbing a deplorable building and trying to buy all the fixtures and building supplies from salvage yards and local businesses."

Her eco-conscious aim was to recycle, reuse, and buy locally. She also applied this philosophy to the details of the décor of Eye Candy.

"Most of the fixtures and display pieces were purchased at local antique shops," says Krasinsky. "It was really important to support our local businesses and refurbish with what was already around me. Turning something old into something new again was not only fitting for the building and the neighborhood but also fitting for my business model of ‘hand-made, one-of-a-kind eyewear.’"

KEY LOCALE

Located in the rehabilitated neighborhood of Lawrenceville, which is chock-full of eye-catching, upscale retailers, Eye Candy is in good company.

"Over the last five years, Lawrenceville has started reinventing itself as a hip neighborhood," says Katie Bulger, optician and store manager at Eye Candy.

She notes that this up-and-coming area is conveniently located just three miles from downtown Pittsburgh, along the Allegheny River.

"Monica is a pioneer here doing this," adds Bulger, who also owns a women's specialty clothing boutique in Lawrenceville.

She adds, "And while it's definitely a destination retail shop, we get customers coming to us from all over the city. They want good lenses and something different—they're not so concerned with the pricepoint and how quickly it can be turned around. They simply come for the experience."

UNIQUE OFFERINGS

Eye Candy's frame assortment, which focuses on hard-to-find European brands and luxurious materials, ranges from entry-level eyewear at $200 all the way up to horn spectacles priced around $2,000. The average pricepoint sought out by Eye Candy's core 35- to 45-year-old clientele is, however, $350 to $400.

The dispensary itself is a cozy 500 square feet and there is more room in the back for an exam room, waiting room, and storage. In the near future, Bulger says, Eye Candy will begin offering eye exams and possibly even cosmetic procedures such as Botox.

For now, the focus is on frames and Eye Candy excels on this front with inventive merchandising that also falls in step with Krasinsky's green leanings.

She describes the store's look as an "eclectic combination of décor, featuring turn-of-the-century furniture that has been refurbished and turned into eyewear display cases."

Creative merchandising, unusual fixtures, carefully selected products, great service, and a cozy setting are the ingredients in Monica George Krasinsky's Eye Candy, an optical shop in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood

CREATIVE MERCHANDISING

This retro-leaning theme was inspired by a refurbished antique dental cabinet, circa 1920, that is used as a display case for eyewear.

"All of my creative energy came from that particular piece and I knew the rest of the store had to follow that model, also keeping true to the natural flow of the preserved building," says Krasinsky. "We accomplished this by preserving everything from the original hardwood floors to keeping the original aesthetic of the facade of the building."

Following the lead of merchandising products in the dental cabinet, other frames are neatly tucked away in a range of antique pieces, including an ice cream parlor case.

There is no shelving at Eye Candy, yet the dispensary's assortment of 400 to 500 frames are effectively put on display. "It's all tucked away in these vintage pieces. People come in and ask, ‘Where is the wall of frames?’ It's really different."

SAVVY SERVICE

In addition to the appeal of its luxury frame mix and eclectic décor, Eye Candy puts the onus on customer service to complete the experience.

"I can sit down with a customer, offer them some food and a beverage and say, ‘Let me help you find frames that fit your facial structure, shape, and coloring,’" says Bulger. "We are very fortunate to have an environment in which we can do this sort of thing." EB

Selling the Candy Eye Candy store manager and optician Katie Bulger shares how this optical shop got the word out on its launch with inventive marketing efforts. PRINT IT Eye Candy focused on popular local media outlets, such as Shady Avenue and The Strip magazines. NET VALUE Bulger created a blog for Eye Candy that she updates on a regular basis herself. "It's one of the most creative ways to have a presence but to do it inexpensively," she says. "I could build a website traditionally, but why? You can do so much yourself. We are saving around $10,000 by not hiring a web designer to create and update our site." Eye Candy owner Monica George Krasinsky uses repurposed décor from antique shops SOCIALIZING On a similar note, Bulger believes in the power of social media, from Facebook to Twitter. "We do a lot with social media," she says. "We have a Facebook page and we do email blasts as well." WORD ON THE STREET Because Eye Candy offers such a thoughtful frame assortment, many of their customers have heard about them from friends and family. "We get a lot people coming in from word of mouth," says Bulger. "I also have a lot of contacts through my retail clothing store in the neighborhood here and there is a lot of crossover." CREATING THE BUZZ A well-timed opening event was also part of Eye Candy's launch marketing plan. The shop's open house coincided with Lawrenceville's Cookie Tour, held the first week in December. "The neighborhood's main business district is about two miles long and retailers put cookies and their recipes in their stores," says Bulger. "It's a great weekend for all businesses, so we decided last minute to do an open house to coordinate with this event."