Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregor Owen.
Hi Gregor, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Gregor Owen, owner and founder of CustomEyes at South Front in Wilmington, has been in the optical business for more decades than he really cares to count. His early apprenticeship was with some of the retired experts who had worked for the leaders in the early optical industry at the time, and crafted his growth carefully to offer him the opportunity to become a highly skilled licensed optician in Florida.
Gregor has consulted with and managed business solutions for Ophthalmology, Optometry, and large and small chain optical businesses. He is a licensed optician and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Opticianry, a Charter Certified Optician with the American Board of Opticianry, a Certified Contact Lens Fitter, and a member of the NC Opticians Association.
He has written, lectured, and taught optical technology and business solutions to a variety of eye care professionals and is a certified American Board of Opticianry Continuing Education lecturer. He has extensive training in the exciting new digital lens design technology and specializes in the enhanced vision of wrap compensated sport vision and sunwear.
He has been a competitive sailor for most of his life and sails as crew for several North Carolina and Florida race boats. He also enjoys swimming, rock climbing, competitive fencing, and the occasional pickup soccer or basketball game.
In 2018 he considered a move from Raleigh to Wilmington when he heard about a very unique building design incorporating shipping containers cleverly combined with standard construction methods to make a stunning look for a group of shops and restaurants. Although he had been working in a very elegant shop in Raleigh, this offered an opportunity to own his own small business and visit the International Vision Expo in NYC to bring to Wilmington a stunning selection of eyewear unlike any seen in the area. After the basic interior walls, floors, and initial interior work was done, Gregor worked with a very talented retired carpenter to put together a beautiful and highly aesthetic interior that highlighted the amazing inventory of frames from all over the world. In addition, using his many years of experience, research, and client care with the finest lens companies in the world, the shop specialized in the Shamir lens designs, which offer the most superior optics in the industry. The shop turned out to have a stunning interior and immediately began to garner rave reviews from the clients that found what a difference the shop could offer the community in optical expertise, products, and client care.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The initial design and interior development of CustomEyes went amazingly smoothly, and our opening was an amazing celebration with a ribbon cutting by the mayor, a kicking rock band headlined by Bruce Clark, the very talented guitarist friend and his band from Raleigh, and a party that took up the entire block for the day and early evening.
Our welcome to Wilmington was very rapid and supportive, and Samm Sawyer, a friend met in the neighboring restaurant next door, jumped in to create the marketing plan specifically designed for our shop. Almost immediately our shop began to draw the curious and excited clients to our new shop, and we were on our way. Of course this was the last quarter of 2019 and we were excited to begin our journey, not knowing what 2020 had in store for the nation and its businesses and citizens.
Covid hit and our first quarter of 2020 was appallingly wrecked by the terrible pandemic, although we were fortunate to be catagorized as a necessary health care provider and could stay open, and with the help offered in SBA Covid loans and employee payroll cash advances we survived, but like all in the country still feel the effects of that major setback that happened to be timed so early and be so damaging to the new business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The optical industry has slowly changed in the past 10 years or so. The overall look of the industry has been compromised by big business and huge conglomerates gobbling up the independent eyewear frame designers and manufacturing. In addition the huge corporation now has taken over eyewear insurance companies, many frame designers, retail locations, and quite a few of the lens technical laboratories. Instead of creative independence and many choices in lens and frame designs, clients are led down a narrow path of choice dominated by the big corporate strategy.
Dominic and I have been working mostly with designers we met at the NY Expo that we found take pride in being on the edge of technology, finding new and exciting ways to bring art to eyewear, and are true artists themselves. Our vendors hire highly skilled employees motivated to bring fantastic looking designs to the public that constantly evolve and provide us with a very high quality of lenses and frames that last and evoke compliments and joy from our clients.
We have been working with the same family laboratory in the US since we opened and one I have worked with for nearly 20 years, and a manufacturer that truly offers the best progressive and prescription lens technology in the industry today. The lenses we specialize in provide a clarity not often found in other lens designs. We treasure our artistic independence and the freedom to only work with the most beautiful frames and the best lens science.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up with a great family. My dad was a teacher and guidance counselor and my mother was an emergency room nurse, yet they always found a way to take the summer off. We often spent those three months at an old homestead cottage on a lake on the gulf coast of Florida. My brother and sister were 5 years younger so I was able to have a lot of independence. I would spend all day outside swimming, fishing, boating, and playing on giant dunes or just wandering the coastline. This provided me with an amazing period in my life to find what I really treasured and grow into the person I am now. There was a large extended family of relatives around and we all loved to get together for meals and family adventures. There was not a lot of wealth, except in love and togetherness which was precious beyond measure. I learned so much from all the Uncles, and quickly developed a love for American History and relished their perspective as the WW II generation as I grew into a teenager. I loved my bicycle and used it to wander our home town and continue to explore the world without many boundaries. My father was a very fine man, and was a brilliant math teacher along with being an ex athlete, who was actually drafted by the Pittsburg Steelers out of college. He declined the offer but was a huge physical presence. I was awed by his life story and the honorable life he lived.
I quickly discovered that I enjoyed the active lifestyle and found pleasure, risk, and reward from competitive sailing and owned a few small boats from an early age. Later I developed skills for the demanding position of foredeck crew for larger luxury race yachts and sailed in regattas all over the East Coast and nearby Caribbean islands. I continue that to this day. In addition I try to keep in shape swimming laps, climbing, and fencing along with pickup soccer and softball. I try to constantly keep an active and busy physical lifestyle that is challenging to keep life interesting and allow for me to stay healthy as all of my family seems to live long lives. I love music and tried to learn bass guitar, but do not really have the ear for it, but constantly make sure live music is a large part of my evenings.
Pricing:
- Fair markup, fine quality goods
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.customeyesnc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=customeyes
