NEW YORK—Last week, July 5-11, substantial declines in optical sales were experienced on a nationwide level as a result of Independence Day, which was celebrated with a Federal holiday on Monday, July 5, rather than on the more traditional July 4. As a result, the Independence Day holiday fell within Week 28 of this year (but within Week 27 of the previous two years). This placed the national average for gross revenue at ECP locations far below where it stood last year during the pandemic as well as in 2019, according to data from Jobson’s latest Practice Performance Tracker.

All categories of optical sales decreased last week (July 5-11) when compared with the previous week (June 28-July 4), ranging from a decline of -11 index points for contact lens sales to a decline of -16 index points for gross revenue. Frame units and lens pairs both declined by -14 index points, while exams/refractions declined by -12 index points. Because these decreased optical sales were due to the Federal Independence Day holiday, they are likely to quickly recover.

Last week, all categories of optical sales fell far below an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. Gross revenue fell to a level of 89 index points, maintaining its position above all other categories, while contact lens sales remain at the lowest level of 81 index points.

Jobson Optical Research selected 1,500 optical locations that have been operating and reporting their sales to its partners, GPN and ABB Analytics, since 2019. The index has been rebased to an average week in 2019. Going forward, this new index base will be used as an arbitrary benchmark and assigned a value of 100.

Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker