More and more people around the world are forced to wear glasses. Every bespectacled person knows very well how difficult it is to choose the right frame or lenses, but this has to be done regularly. Take care of the assortment that attracts different buyers, and you will have regular customers.

World Organization health reports alarming data - in last years The number of people with poor eyesight is on the rise. If no action is taken, in the next ten years, 70% of Russians will suffer from visual impairment.

This sad trend is explained by sharply increased visual loads. Computer monitors, tablets, smartphones and constant work with these devices make many wear glasses. Even today, every fourth inhabitant of Russia cannot boast of good eyesight. This disappointing statistics makes you think about opening an optics store as a necessary and promising type of business.

We will tell you how to start opening an optics store, what costs this enterprise will require and how to organize trade so that it makes a profit.

Legal nuances

As a form of doing business, you can choose an individual entrepreneur or LLC. If you're only going to sell ready-made glasses, you don't need a license, which means you can be satisfied. True, in this case, one should not expect any tangible profit.

We advise you to start right away, that is, LLC. You will be able to obtain a license to practice medicine, and significantly expand the range of your services by offering lenses and glasses prescribed by a doctor. To do this, it is necessary to equip an office for the manufacture of glasses.

Registration of a license requires efforts in the preparation of documents:

• constituent and registration papers;
• sanitary and epidemiological conclusion;
• documents for equipment and optics premises;
• documents on the qualifications of optometrists, etc.

The collection of these documents will take no more than a month and you will have to pay a state fee. If you feel like you can't do it on your own, use the services of a legal agency.

Room selection

The first step prior to obtaining a license should be to find a suitable premises. In many ways, the choice will depend on the range of services that you plan to provide, but in any case, the optics should be located in a place with a sufficient flow of pedestrians.

If you are not going to organize a diagnostic room, an area of ​​​​40 square meters is enough for a store. m, since the placement of glasses does not require a large space, and you can get by with a storage room.

If your plans are more ambitious, and you want to open a large optics salon with vision diagnostics and glasses manufacturing, the area should be much larger. According to GOST, the diagnostic room must have at least 18 sq. m. You will also need additional space for the workshop. All premises must comply with the requirements of fire supervision and established sanitary standards.

A well-lit room with stylish showcases and a well-thought-out interior will create the atmosphere of a modern professional salon. Don't be afraid of difficulties. Having overcome them, you will eventually be able to stand firmly on your feet and make excellent profits from the services in demand.

Range

First of all, decide on the class of buyers who will contact you. It can be advised to bet on the middle class - working and fairly wealthy people prefer to change glasses quite often with a guarantee of their high quality and professional service.

The range of such optics should be as extensive as possible, including products from different price categories. In addition to corrective glasses, you need to sell highly sought-after contact lenses, sunglasses, vision aids, spectacle cases, necklaces, and other accessories.

Optics store equipment

For the equipment of the diagnostic room, special equipment is required:

• ophthalmoscope;
• refractometer-keratometer;
• sign projector;
• slit lamp.
• a set of trial lenses and much more.

This set of equipment costs an average of 350,000 rubles.

In addition, to purchase a professional eyewear assembly line with a device for processing plastic lenses, a machine for processing glass lenses, a diopter, an ultrasonic cleaner, a centralizer and others, you will need an amount of 1.2 to 1.8 million rubles.

Staff

A qualified ophthalmologist is required to work in a salon with diagnostic services. It is desirable that the same specialist be a contactologist who can also prescribe contact lenses. Usually two doctors work in shifts in opticians. Sales assistants should work on the trading floor to help visitors choose a frame for glasses and a brand of lenses.

The director of the optics salon must be a professional pharmacist with an accreditation certificate. The staff of the store, consisting of a director, two doctors and two sales assistants, will require a wage fund of approximately 150 thousand rubles. About 40% of this amount will go to tax deductions and payments to funds. Separately, it must be said about the spectacle collector - a master who makes glasses according to a prescription.

How professional and highly paid it should be will depend on the equipment you purchase. On automatic or semi-automatic equipment, after a little training, a person who owns the skills of manual labor will be able to work. To work on a manual machine, you need a highly qualified specialist.

Issue price

As you can see, organizing an optics salon is an undertaking that requires serious capital investments. In addition to the already listed expenses for the purchase of equipment and the salaries of specialists, money will be needed for:

• rent of premises - 20-50 thousand rubles;
• purchase of goods - 200-400 thousand rubles;
• advertising expenses - 30-60 thousand rubles.

The income from this business will largely depend on the location of the store, but in any case, the demand for glasses is quite high and will only increase over the years.

The profit of the enterprise will be tangible due to the difference in the purchase and sale price, especially if you can arrange supplies directly from the manufacturer. The average income will be 200-350 thousand rubles. per month, and net profit - 80-200 thousand rubles. Thus, your financial investment will pay off pretty quickly.

Today, 25% of Russians suffer from visual impairments, and the rapidly increasing computerization of the country suggests that this figure will only increase. In such realities, the most favorable conditions are created for the development of the optical industry.

In addition, now glasses are not only a corrective tool, but also an attribute of style, which means that the proposed products will be in demand, there is no doubt. How to open an optics shop? What costs does it require? How to set up trade and bring the business to the level of good income? Read about all this in the article.

Legal base

Theoretically, you can open a salon, being in the status of an individual entrepreneur. However, practice shows that you should start by registering as a legal entity (LLC), because, most likely, you will need a license. "Optics" cannot work without it. There is an exception: if you are just going to sell ready-made glasses, you do not need a license. But then the circle of buyers will be quite narrow, respectively, do not expect good profits.

If you want to offer corrective glasses and prescription lenses to your customers, you will need to equip a special office (workshop) for the manufacture of glasses and, of course, acquire a license to practice medicine.

Its design will require numerous permits. These are constituent and registration papers, a sanitary and epidemiological conclusion, documents for equipment and premises, documents confirming the qualifications of optometrists, and so on.

Yes, the list is intimidating. In this regard, many aspiring entrepreneurs who do not fully know how to open Optika begin to think about the services of legal agencies, which, by the way, are not cheap. Although in fact it is possible to assemble a package of documents on your own in three to four weeks. In this case, you will pay only government fees.

Room selection

As you understand, it is necessary to find a suitable premises even before getting a license. And where to open an optics salon? Here, too, it all depends on the range of services that you plan to provide. Experts recommend placing such objects in shopping centers, in close proximity to large stores, on the central city streets.

If diagnostic services are not included in the business plan, an optics salon can have an area of ​​40 square meters - this is quite enough, because it is possible to provide a fairly wide range of goods within a relatively small space, while storage space is not required.

It’s a completely different matter if you decide to immediately position yourself as a large salon offering vision diagnostics and eyeglasses to order. In this case, you can not do without additional territories. According to GOST, only a diagnostic room should have an area of ​​at least 18 square meters. But it will still be necessary to equip a room for a workshop. At the same time, all objects must comply with sanitary standards and requirements. fire supervision.

Before you open "Optics", you need to properly design the room. The design should be thought out in advance. The abundance of light, stylish interior, good showcases - all this creates an atmosphere of a professional salon.

Difficulties should not scare

Many businessmen who think about how to open Optika eventually give up this venture, frightened of the difficulties. And in vain! Most of the entrepreneurs who nevertheless put their plans into practice eventually gain a foothold in the professional optics market and open entire chains of stores where, in addition to the direct sale of corrective vision instruments, they also provide diagnostic services, as well as take orders for the manufacture of optical devices. At the same time, the production itself is usually taken out to one of the peripheral branches, where the cost of renting the premises is lower.

Formation of the assortment

You have already learned how to open an optics store. No less significant is the question of which models of vision-correcting devices to sell in it. It all depends again on the format you choose. When targeting middle-class consumers, it is necessary to form the most extensive assortment to satisfy the needs of people with different incomes. In addition to corrective glasses, you should also sell contact lenses, sunglasses, eyeglass cases, vision training equipment, chains and other accessories.

Separately, it must be said about sunglasses, because their presence in the assortment can significantly increase profits. Such optical devices can be put on showcases in February, because already in March the sun begins to shine brightly, and the peak of demand for glasses is reached in April.

Equipment for "Optics"

The diagnostic room must be equipped with at least the most necessary devices: an ophthalmoscope, a keratometer refractometer, a sign projector, a slit lamp. You will also need a set of trial lenses and more.

On average, such equipment for "Optics" will require costs of 350 thousand rubles or more. A professional line for assembling glasses, including devices for drilling and painting plastic lenses, lens processing machines, a diopter, an ultrasonic cleaner, a centralizer, etc., will cost between 1.2-1.8 million rubles.

Staff

In the salon where diagnostic services are carried out, a competent ophthalmologist should conduct an appointment, who can give recommendations on eye care and the choice of corrective tools. Ideally, this specialist should also be a contactologist in order to be able to prescribe contact lenses. As a rule, two doctors work in shifts at Optics.

In the hall where the sale of optical instruments is carried out, there should be experienced sales assistants. Their task is to help customers choose a spectacle frame, brand of lenses, as well as advise on any other issues. Therefore, such workers must know everything about glass and plastic lenses from various manufacturers.

The salon also needs a director. He must have a professional pharmaceutical education, work experience in the specialty, an accreditation certificate.

If two doctors, two sales assistants and a director work in the store, then the cost of wages per month will be at least 150 thousand rubles. About forty percent of this amount will have to be paid to the state budget as tax deductions and payments to various funds.

Point Collector

We did not include the master who manufactures glasses according to the prescription in the number of employees. In a professional salon, of course, you can’t do without it. How qualified a specialist you need will depend on the quality of the equipment.

So, if you have a modern semi-automatic or fully automatic machine for turning lenses in your arsenal, the qualification of the master may be low, a person who is interested in technology and able to do at least something with his own hands will cope with the matter (subject to minimal training). If the salon has only cheap manual machine, then a highly qualified master will be needed to work on it, which is currently very difficult to find.

Activities with children

Do you want to increase your income? Then open an office in the optics salon, where classes will be carried out with children with vision problems. In every city, unfortunately, there are many children with astigmatism, myopia and other pathologies. But you can help them not only surgically, but also with the help of special sets of exercises.

Modern treatment programs allow you to train the muscles of the eyes and slow down the loss of vision in children, get rid of strabismus. Parents are ready to pay any amount for this opportunity, and queues line up in such offices. You will need a separate room, some equipment, but not as expensive as for diagnostics and glasses assembly, and one or two nurses on staff.

Finally

So, the question of how to open “Optics” sounds very relevant today. The domestic market in this segment is not yet filled, as a result of which the trade in optical devices that correct vision, their manufacture by prescription, as well as diagnostic measures, in the aggregate, can be called a promising type of business. If you first understand all the intricacies of the matter, choose the right trade format, overcome all the initial difficulties, then you will surely become the owner of a profitable optics salon, and perhaps even several. Good luck!

- Is there a need for external financing? For what purpose do you use it?

It happens. For example, when they opened a new point in St. Petersburg, for the purchase a large number goods required additional funds.

Sometimes money is needed just to replenish working capital, when you need to fulfill a purchase plan for certain brands.

- What banks did you apply to?

I applied only to Sberbank. I realized that it was an extremely dreary process, a lot of documents, certificates and collateral.

I myself have been a client of Alfa-Bank for 8 years. I learned about a new lending service, I decided to try it.

- What is the essence of the service? How does he work?

An easy way to get money to grow your business. But it is not the bank that lends you, but the people. For investors, risks are distributed, and for borrowers, the process of loan approval is simplified.

- How do you rate the service?

Everything is easy and simple done with one click in personal account. You don't even need to contact tech support. You can repay the loan at any time with one button. So I clicked on Friday - the loan was repaid on Saturday.

- How is it different from banks?

Of course, the ease of filing documents and the speed of decision-making. But besides, if you delve into the question, the interest rate in Potok is optimal for a loan for a period of 180 days (2% per month). In banks, a loan is taken on average for 12-24 months. At the initial stage, in the monthly payment, the majority of the amount will be interest, and in the Flow in the payment, interest takes up a fixed amount.

In general, I am sure that even at the current refinancing rate for 180 days, you will overpay less in Potok than in taking a regular business loan and repaying it ahead of schedule by 180 days.

How quickly did you collect documents and receive money into your account?

For one day! I uploaded an extract from Alfa-Bank's client's bank to Potok, and the very next day, in the morning, the money was credited to my account.

- How much did you borrow? Why were you sure that you would return?

I took two loans for 500 and 700 thousand rubles. Closed both early. I took the amounts
not large, based on the average monthly turnover, so that payments do not create a burden on the business.

- Do you plan to use the service in the future?

Here next week, perhaps, I will take more money for the purchase of goods. I believe that there may be a cash gap.

- Do you plan to become an investor?

And I already tried. I checked how it works. It turned out to be convenient.

- Advice for entrepreneurs. When should and should not take loans?

I would not advise taking loans for startups or businesses in the early stages of development. In the beginning, you should understand how it works, and how much money it brings you. There must be experience and some kind of turnover statistics. And already under the development, expansion or specific projects - you can.