“New” Is Everywhere at Urban Optiques These Days … And We Like It That Way! Find Out How We Are Always Working to Help You See & Be Seen!

We’re fast approaching the six month mark since we took ownership of the downtown Northville optical-shop-formerly-known as Urban Optiks and relaunched it as “Urban Optiques.“

It’s literally been a whirlwind for the past five months and it seems like just yesterday that we celebrated our grand-reopening.   Since then, we’ve made all kinds of improvements and changes (both large and small) to enhance the patient and client experience and we have dozens more on the way.

So I thought I’d take a few minutes today to bring everyone up to speed on what’s been happening around Urban Optiques, and some of the exciting things we have planned for the future.

As I go through this you’ll notice a common theme:  newness.

Nearly everything about the past six months has involved some type of change in the existing business, the experience, the product and how we serve our clients and patients.

What I’m proud of is that I think we’ve been able to preserve all of the best things from previous owners of this practice, while making some exciting changes that open up new possibilities for growth and improved client service and vision care.

New Patients from New Places

First, we just had our best week ever at Urban Optiques in terms of new clients, exams and eyeglass sales. March will likely be our best month since purchasing the business.  Traffic into the store has been increasing week-over-week since November, but this past week felt like a real tipping-point for us.

What is even more exciting is that 75 percent of you are first-time patients.

continue

Tags: Detroit Designer Eyewear, Dr. Michelle Calder Cardwell, Metro Detroit Eyewear, Northville Eye Doctor, Northville Optometrist, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques

Urban Optiques’ “La La La Lafont” Video Makes the Official Lafont-Paris Eyewear Blog!

We woke up this Saturday to find that our first experiment in trying to bring our eyewear alive for our clients and patients through video got noticed …  4,000 miles away in Paris!

Yesterday, Lafont featured the Urban Optiques video highlighting one of our favorite French eyewear designers on their official blog “Le Blog LAFONT.”

What’s most remarkable to us about this whole story is that Lafont found our video on their own. We never tipped them off.

Lafont recently relaunched their website and included a blog as part of the redesign, which we thought was really forward-thinking.  So it was the highlight of our weekend to find our video included Lafont’s website.

You can check it out here:

http://blog.lafont.com/2010/03/12/lafont-clip-by-urban-optiques/

And here is the video on Optiques TV that started it all:

Hopefully this will intrigue you enough to come in and check out the more than 70 Lafont-Paris eyeglasses we have in stock at Urban Optiques!

Tags: Designer Eyeglasses, Designer Eyewear, Designer Sunglasses, European Eyeglasses, European Eyewear, European Sunglasses, Eyewear Video, Fashion Eyewear, French Eyeglasses, French Eyewear, French Sunglasses, Lafont, Lafont Eyewear, Lafont Paris, Lafont Sunglasses, Lafont Video, Paris, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques

View the final segment of the complete Badgley Mischka Spring/Summer ‘10 Collection Preview from Amsterdam Featuring Couture Eyewear from Sama

Part III of the Badgley Mischka runway collection at the 11th Amsterdam International Fashion Week.

Not only does the collection have a fantastic soundtrack from Ra Ra Riot and gorgeous clothing, but it also features some amazing eyewear from Badgley Mischka by Sama.

Music by Ra Ra Riot

Ghost Under Rocks – Ra Ra Riot
Can You Tell – Ra Ra Riot
Can You Tell (Epochs Remix) – Ra Ra Riot

Tags: Badgley Mischka, Badgley Mischka Alfie, Badgley Mischka Boyd, Badgley Mischka Corset, Badgley Mischka Couture Eyewear, Badgley Mischka Eyewear, Badgley Mischka Perry, Badgley Mischka Ready to Wear, Badgley Mischka Runway, Badgley Mischka Sprin 2010, Badgley Mischka Summer 2010, Badgley Mischka Sunglasses, Can You Tell, Couture Eyeglasses, Couture Eyewear, Couture Sunglasses, Designer Eyewear, Designer Sunglasses, Eyewear, Fashion, Fashion Eyeglasses, Fashion Eyewear, Fashion Sunglasses, Ghost Under Rocks, Luxury Eyeglasses, Luxury Eyewear, Luxury Sunglasses, Optometrist, Ra Ra Riot, Style, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques, Vision

The Lafont Brazil Sunglass puts the “Tres” in “Tres Chic” with this Magnificent Round Sunglass that You’ll Never Find at “The Sunglass Hut”

If you haven’t noticed yet, we adore everything about Lafont.

From their inspired optical eyeglass collection that offers a color, pattern and frame shape for seemingly everyone (it’s just a matter of trying them on, trust us) to Lafont’s imaginative sunglass line that breaks every convention — yet seem to always look so sophisticated, classy … and well … so French –  Lafont continues to be one of our most popular eyewear lines among both our clients and the Urban Optiques team.

Last month, we refreshed our Lafont eyewear collection and brought in over sixty new Lafont frames from their 2010 Spring eyewear collection. Being the sun lovers that we are, we also picked a half-dozen new Lafont sunglass models as well for the store.

It’s how we people in the eyewear business remind themselves that Spring will eventually come: We buy new sunglass stock.

One of the Lafont sunglasses that really made our heart pound was the Lafont Brazil.

continue

Tags: Designer Sunglasses, European Eyewear, European Sunglasses, Fashion Sunglasses, French Eyewear, French Sunglasses, Lafont, Lafont Brazil, Lafont Brazil Sunglasses, Lafont Eyewear, Lafont Paris, Lafont Paris Eyewear, Lafont Sunglasses, Metal Designer Sunglasses, Metal Sunglasses, Proenza Schouler, Proenza Schouler Sunglasses, Round Sunglasses, Sunglass Hut, Sunglass Shack, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques

The Gold Sunglasses Rihanna Wears in the “So Hard” Video are Badgley Mischka Perry with 24K Gold Lenses.  And Urban Optiques Has a Pair!

In early January we noticed an upsurge in people asking about the Badgley Mischka Perry sunglasses.

But not just the usual Badgley Mischka Perrys — clients kept asking whether we stocked the gold Perry with gold lenses.

At first, we couldn’t quite understand the sudden interest.

Angelina Jolie had been spotted earlier sported the gold Badgley Mischka Perry with gold mirror lenses, and that caused a minor uptick in sales, but nothing like the buzz we saw over the past two months.

And then we noticed something in Rihanna’s “So Hard” video:

Yes, those gold sunglasses on the very lovely Rihanna are Badgley Mischka Perrys.

continue

Tags: 24K Gold Sunglasses, Angelina Jolie Sunglasses, Badgley Mischka, Badgley Mischka Aviators, Badgley Mischka Couture Eyewear, Badgley Mischka Eyewear, Badgley Mischka Gold Sunglassses, Badgley Mischka Perry, Badgley Mischka Perry Gold, Badgley Mischka Sport Eyewear, Badgley Mischka Sunglasses, Couture Eyewear, Couture Sunglasses, Designer Eyewear, Gold Aviators, Gold Sunglass Lenses, Gold Sunglasses, Luxury Eyewear, Luxury Sunglasses, Perry, Rihanna, Rihanna Gold Sunglasses, Rihanna So Hard, Rihanna Sunglasses, Sama, Sama Couture Eyewear, So Hard, So Hard Video, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques

Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway Sizzle in this Sexy Classic Heist Film at the Marquis Theatre Sponsored by Urban Optiques, Tom Holzer Ford and Starring the Gallery

The “King of Cool” makes a return to the big screen tomorrow night in “The Thomas Crown Affair” — the latest of eleven classic films Urban Optiques is sponsoring during the “Movies at the Marquis Classic Film Series” at the historic Marquis Theatre in downtown Northville.

For generations who don’t know who Steve McQueen is, we’ll fill you in quickly.

But before we do this, check out these great clips from The Thomas Crown Affair, showing tomorrow night at the Marquis Theatre:

McQueen’s life had all of the marks of either a disaster or a major success story.

His father was a barnstorming stunt pilot and his mother was young, rebellious, alcoholic. McQueen’s mom left him at the doorstep of his grandparents, and for much of his youth, he bounced between stability and chaos. Eventually he wound up in a reform school, where he straightened up his act, became a leader and eventually moved on to take acting lessons.

continue

Tags: Classic Movie Series, Classic Movies, Downtown Northville, Faye Dunaway Sunglasses, Hollywood Eyewear, Hollywood Sunglasses, Movies at the Marquis, Persol, Persol Sunglasses, Starring the Gallery, Steve McQueen Eyewear, Steve McQueen Sunglasses, Style, The Thomas Crown Affair, Tom Holzer Ford, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques

Should We Carry the Francis Klein Eyeglass and Sunglass Lines?

We’re looking to add a couple of select eyewear and sunglass lines to our current collection this Spring.

One of the designers who caught our eye was Paris-based Francis Klein.

There are a few of reasons why we are considering adding Francis Klein to our existing eyewear collection at Urban Optiques:

First, they just make beautiful, retro-inspired eyewear that’s hand-made in Paris.

Their frames — both optical and sun — are amazing works of art made by people who are passionate about creating unique, one-of-a-kind eyewear.

Second, no one in Michigan is carrying eyewear from this little French treasure (at least as far as we know), which makes them an even better fit for our buying philosophy.

Third, we love working with independent companies that haven’t diluted their brand or product through some giant corporate distribution network.  Like L’Amy (the distributor of our Lanvin-Paris and Chloé frames) and Lafont-Paris, they are a joy to work with since they don’t have some giant company making the decisions from a disconnected boardroom. These are people who get what we do and will not compromise on quality, style or service.

It’s something we really appreciate around Urban Optiques, because it’s the essence of who we are and what we stand for.

So check out some of Francis Klein’s eyeglasses and suns and tell us what you think:

continue

Tags: Designer Eyewear, European Eyeglasses, European Eyewear, European Sunglasses, Francis Klein, Francis Klein Eyeglasses, Francis Klein Eyewear, Francis Klein Sunglasses, French Eyeglasses, French Eyewear, French Sunglasses, Luxury Eyewear, Luxury Sunglasses, Retro Eyewear, Urban Optiks, Urban Optiques