Frank Cardinale and Lauri Saunders at Eye Catchers Optique in Boca Raton.
Photo by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Scott Simmons
Two decades ago, Lauri Saunders and Frank Cardinale had a vision.
They would build a business and their customers would become friends.
In 1996, they followed that vision and opened Eye Catchers Optique in Boca Raton.
“A lot of optical shops are extensions of doctors’ offices and we wanted more of a retail place, where (customers) can be comfortable,” Saunders said.
It clearly worked.
“It’s not been a thriving area but we’ve hung on because of those relationships,” she said.
Two decades ago, Mizner Park was comparatively new, and Royal Palm Place had not been updated.
Now, since the end of the recession, the area is booming.
Two blocks north, Mizner Park is crowded, and a block south, Royal Palm Place is a thriving mix of retail, residential and restaurants.
The nine-story, 900-foot-long Palmetto Promenade project looms large across the street from Eye Catchers. Up the street from the shop, tall buildings line East Palmetto Park Road.
“We have concerns just like the neighbors. The size is a little overwhelming,” Saunders said of the 378-unit apartment building. “On the business level, it can’t do anything but help us.”
The residential construction in downtown Boca Raton is sure to bring additional business to Eye Catchers, which draws customers from all over the city.
“The majority of our clients are in the usual 7-mile radius sort of a thing. We have clients who come from all over and even clients from up North who wait to give us their business,” Saunders said. “We have customers who come from the western country club communities, and that’s not an easy trip anymore.”
So what are they buying?
“We see more color. People are looking to get away from the tortoise and the black, and even the men, with blues and deep greens and those kinds of colors. The men are getting a little more adventurous with the idea of a little bit of color,” she said.
Saunders sports specs of her own, wearing iGreen Eyewear.
“Frank has two pairs of those, too. They are super lightweight and they’re practical. It’s not our most expensive frame and I love the idea of the colors,” she said.
For a company that caters to some of the most affluent people in the country, Eye Catchers tries to have a modest price point, with its most expensive frames topping out at just under $500.
“We have all different price points,” Saunders said. “We have the wealthy 1 percenters and regular people like we are.”
She and Cardinale have worked together since 1981; each is married to other people.
“Frank’s more the technical person, and I’m a little more the front of the house,” Saunders said.
It’s a relationship that has served them well in their 1,100-square-foot space.
That store suits their notion of old-fashioned customer service.
“We’re one of the few little historic buildings that are left over here. Our little building is from the ’30s.”
And good customer service? That’s timeless.
Eye Catchers Optique is at 318 E. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton; 338-0081 or eyecatchersboca.com.
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