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NEW YORK—As the dust began to settle from Monday’s announcement of VSP Vision Care’s acquisition of Marchon Eyewear, independent optical retailers and executives of eyecare/eyewear chains had varying reactions to news of the $735 million deal, which will create a combined $3.3 billion eyecare company.

The attitude of chain and independent retailers and opticians depended in large part on their current relationships—or lack thereof—with VSP and Marchon, as well as on their experiences in the managed-vision arena.

On the positive side, for example, Bill Jehling, president and chief executive officer of 38-location Clarkson Eyecare in the St. Louis area, considers Marchon one of his company’s largest suppliers and commented, “We have an outstanding relationship with both VSP and Marchon. Overall, I think the acquisition will only be good for a company like ours, as well as for the industry; it’s consistent with the continuing consolidation within the industry. It makes VSP a bigger and better player, and if VSP is a stronger entity, it will only result in better patient care, because VSP’s requirements for providers are second to none.”

Bob Brodney, president of Eye Care Associates, with 15 locations in Raleigh, N.C., was also upbeat about the acquisition. “This business combination is tremendous for the ECP community,” Brodney said. “Optometry needs to increase its competitiveness with chains and the commercial marketplace, and this acquisition will clearly be a benefit. Stronger resources and assets are key to this objective. At Eye Care Associates, VSP is the largest third-party plan provider, Marchon is our largest frame supplier and we have embraced ExamWriter and the OfficeMate platform for our future.

“I really believe this is good for ECPs, many of whom lack the resources available to the chains or larger private-practice groups such as ours,” Brodney continued. “I think that VSP is thinking about the long term. As a group of 25,000 ODs…VSP needs to provide resources to doctors so they can succeed and compete with the commercial groups. I can foresee this leading to additional offerings by the combined companies so the typical private practice can improve the patient experience and be better able to challenge the big guys.”

Al Bernstein, president of the Nationwide Vision chain in Arizona, said he sees the deal as a strategic move having benefits for both VSP and Marchon. “For VSP, the acquisition gives it a sales force to sell both Marchon and Altair products,” said Bernstein, who counts Marchon among the 61-store chain’s current eyewear vendors. “For Marchon, it offers an opportunity to get into some offices of VSP panel providers Marchon hasn’t been selling to.”

Negative comments on the acquisition tended to revolve around VSP’s use of independent optometrists and ophthalmologists only on its provider panel, excluding optical chains and independent opticians.

Said Stephan Nicholson, an optician who is a Sterling Optical franchisee in Lakewood, Calif., “Someone needs to change a basic rule VSP has had since inception—it will not allow opticians on its panel of providers.” Noting that Marchon attributes 75 percent to 80 percent of its business to the three Os (“not the two Os”), Nicholson said, “Opticians have been discriminated against by VSP far too long. We are allowed on all the other major panels, and must go through the same credentialing process as ODs and ophthalmlogists. Don’t tell me an optician cannot provide the same level of quality service an OD or MD can; after all, the majority of our education is based on providing glasses and contact lenses with accurate prescriptions, as opposed to an OD or MD education, where very little is dedicated to dispensing Rxs. It's time to allow opticians access to a piece of the VSP pie!”

“We will be phasing out Marchon,” declared Ira Haber, owner of four-store Europtics in Denver. Haber said that when Luxottica begin its major push into managed vision several years ago, Luxottica “invited everybody to work with EyeMed—but VSP wants nothing to do with anybody not pushing optometric services.” Added Haber, “The big difference between EyeMed and VSP is that EyeMed wants to sell glasses at a discount, and VSP wants to sell glasses at a much deeper discount in order to fill a refractionist’s available chair time.”

Haber predicted that as a result of the acquisition, other eyewear vendors competing with Marchon “will increase discounts, raise prices on new products to combat VSP’s assault on them. Ultimately, the consumer will be hurt.”

And Bruce Kolkmann, co-owner of Raymond Opticians in Westchester County, N.Y., told VMail, “Under VSP’s rules, a practice has be majority-owned by an optometrist or ophthalmologist to be on its panel of providers. I think there’s going to be some backlash for Marchon from independent opticians or retailers who might wonder, ‘Why am I going to deal with a company who won’t let me be on its panel?’ "

On the other hand, Kolkmann said, “business is business. If you have a good-selling Marchon brand such as Coach or Calvin Klein, does it ultimately matter who owns it? You have to adapt, you have see how you fit into the big pie and work with it.”

For exclusive details on both VSP’s and Marchon’s operations, visit www.visionmonday.com. View installments of VM’s exclusive video interview with VSP’s president and CEO Rob Lynch and Marchon’s CEO Al Berg.