Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
October 4 , 2007 issue
Blue Ridge Vision—Keeping an Eye on Fashion and Customer Service for 8 Years
Story by Sam Calhoun
According to Blue Ridge Vision’s tagline, Your glasses are talking about you…Do you know what they are saying?
Optometrist Daniel Sullivan does—and chances are, he probably made them talk in the first place, because the 8-year owner of Blue Ridge Vision has a passion for eye care and eyewear. After spending five minutes with Sullivan—surrounded by his high-tech toys, immense selection of frames, happy employees and even happier customers—even the most content person is likely to question if s/he has this much fun at work.
But to Sullivan, fun is what it’s all about. In fact, fun is what got him into the business of optometry in the first place. “We get the coolest toys—just look at this stuff! We’ve got the coolest instrumentation in the world.”
A native of New York, Sullivan knew that he wanted to go into the field of optometry before he even entered his first year at the University of South Carolina. At USC, Sullivan worked as an optician—the first level of optometry certification—but soon yearned for more and entered the doctorate program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“I was an optician first, but soon realized that all the neat stuff happened in the back,” said Sullivan, who graduated as a licensed optometrist—or a primary care eye physician—in 1999.
After graduating, Sullivan and his wife Heidi decided to travel to Boone to check out a 12-year-old optometry practice that was for sale.
“Boone is just gorgeous. We made the mistake of driving here on the Parkway, and you know, you don’t leave when you do that,” said Sullivan, who bought Blue Ridge Vision in 1999. “Boone is a neat place. The university keeps a crowbar on the mind to keep it open, and you never have to lock your doors. We get the safety of a small town without the small town mindset.”
Sullivan has demonstrated his open mind since day one at Blue Ridge Vision. Sullivan brought in the wildest glasses frames that the town had ever seen. At first he heard from the naysayers, but the reaction changed quickly, and now Sullivan’s service and selection is unsurpassed in the High Country.
“We’re it on top of the mountain. If you need a pair of glasses, you’re here,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan’s business is three pronged. Blue Ridge Vision offers eye examinations using the latest in optometry technology, or optical coherence tomography to those in the know. Basically, Sullivan can study pictures of the eye down to nanometers—not just to millimeters as with older technology. Blue Ridge Vision also outfits customers with the “coolest frames outside of New York City,” according to Sullivan. Blue Ridge Vision also manufacturers frames in house.
“No one’s got the style we’ve got,” said Sullivan, who runs the business with his wife of 23 years and optician Heidi.
The couple has one child, Caitlin, 20, who attends the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is studying cultural anthropology.
Sullivan, Heidi and their 10 employees see 16 patients in a normal workday, and their top priority is speed.
“We don’t want to ever make you wait,” said Sullivan. “We schedule it out so no one ever waits for more than 15 minutes.
“What we hear the most from our patients is that they have fun while they’re here.”
A basic eye exam at Blue Ridge Vision takes 30 minutes and customers can have a new pair of glasses, from walking in the door to walking out the door, in no more than 2 hours.
Since taking over the business, Sullivan and Heidi have made many changes and improvements. When they first moved in, the business supported 3 employees and bank teller windows—from the former bank that inhabited the space—cramped the current waiting room space. Sullivan tore out the bank teller windows, and a few years later, took over the space that used to house Turtle Music and increased his business by 600 square feet, adding more examination rooms. Two years ago, Sullivan hired a local architect and builder to construct a new frame shop in his business in “green fashion,” he said. The frame shop is built with bamboo wood—a highly renewable building material—and finished with environmentally friendly, or water-based, chemicals.
“It’s just gorgeous,” said Sullivan.
Besides the state-of-the-art interior, the speedy customer service, wild frames and high-tech instrumentation, the business is perhaps best known for its humorous television commercials. Sullivan and Heidi produce and create all the commercials and involve many employees in the production. The latest commercial deals with mistaken identity and debuts this week.
“With the commercials, we try to show that even though this is really impressive stuff, we don’t take it too seriously,” said Sullivan.
Currently, Sullivan is finished with his expansion plans and is looking for another doctor to help with the workload at Blue Ridge Vision.
“We’re looking for the right fit,” said Sullivan.
One of Sullivan’s employees may one day be that new optometrist, as many of them have become apprentice opticians and two have become opticians since working at Blue Ridge Vision. Their diplomas hang on Sullivan’s “bragger wall” at the store.
In addition to Blue Ridge Vision, Sullivan is a partner in three other optometry practices in North Carolina that offer services similar to Blue Ridge Vision. Two are in Asheville—Tunnel Vision on Tunnel Road and Eye on Merriman on Merriman Avenue—and one is in Winston-Salem—See Distinctive Eyewear. Sullivan’s partners handle the day-to-day operations at the other three stores and Sullivan works Monday through Friday at Blue Ridge Vision, handling emergencies on Saturdays and Sundays.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“This is home,” said Sullivan with a smile. “It’s a small town and I love it. My patients become my friends and my friends become my patients. That’s why it’s so important to love what you do, and I do.”
Blue Ridge Vision is located at 1180-A1 Blowing Rock Road inside the Boone Mall beside Panera Bread. Blue Ridge Vision is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information, call 828-264-2020 or click to www.blueridgevision.com.