Keeping their goals in sight

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Before Dr. Nate Harrell opened Pend Oreille Vision Care in Sandpoint a decade ago, he was fresh out of optometry school, dreaming of a place to call home. 

“He knew he wanted to move somewhere that was not Omaha [where Harrell is originally from],” said Jen Heller, the business manager and “office mom” for the optometry practice. “A doctor told him about this place [on Oak Street]. It had been an eye clinic for about four years and was closing down, so he got a loan and made it happen.”

Pend Oreille Vision Care doctors from all three locations (left to right): Danielle Tholl, Nate Harrell, Amber Prins. Courtesy photo.

Heller said Harrell scrimped and saved to make this dream a reality, living in the Sandpoint office on an air mattress and eating off of a hot plate for the first few years while he established the business. With a sharp focus on customer care and attention, Pend Oreille Vision Care took off, adding a Bonners Ferry location in 2014 and a Priest River office in 2018. Now, 10 years later, Pend Oreille Vision Care employs three doctors and seven staff members throughout its three locations.

According to Heller, it was that focus on customer care — as well as hiring good people — that solidified the success of the business.

“We couldn’t do what we do without everyone on our team,” Heller told the Reader. “We hire carefully and pay people well for what they do. We also make sure to get out and play and take time off, because that’s important, too.”

Heller said when they opened Bonners Ferry Eye Care, it was originally intended to be a satellite business to save rural community members a long drive to access services. They quickly realized the demand was enough to warrant a full-time office.

“We were pushing the angle, ‘We send doctors to where the patients are,’ which was fairly unusual in the industry,” Heller said. “Both in Bonners Ferry and again when we opened the Priest River office, we would get an influx of people who hadn’t had their eyes checked in over 30 years.”

It was this innovative customer care that helped Pend Oreille Vision Care to be named one of the 2020 America’s Finest Optical Retailers by INVISION, a national magazine for eyecare professionals.

“Every year we feel privileged to bring our readers the best of the best of independent optical retail in our industry,” said Deirdre Carroll, INVISION’s editor-in-chief.

Heller said the criteria for receiving an honorable mention is stiff, since optical retailers compete on a national scale for the award. Stores are judged on exterior and interior appearance and design, store biography, marketing, web presence and overall individuality.

“It’s pretty well rounded,” Heller said. “They want to know you’re doing something different than just being a product mill or a patient mill.”

Heller believes one reason INVISION selected Pend Oreille Vision Care for an honorable mention this year was because they listen to their customers.

“I think everyone who works here is really good at listening,” Heller said. “We make sure to build time to listen to people and educate accordingly. Instead of just selling an object, we sell an education.”

While the focus is usually on higher quality products with strong warranties, Heller said other innovations like offering a basic eyewear package at an affordable price helps them service a wider range of customers.

“Recently, we put together some basic packages for people that might be really hard up, who can walk out of here with eyewear for $50,” she said. “We don’t push them hard — they aren’t as high quality and they aren’t the same warranties — but when COVID hit all of a sudden, we were ready for it. … We wanted to make sure different levels of need were met instead of just one.”

To celebrate a decade of business in Sandpoint, Pend Oreille Vision Care is offering 50% off any warrantied anti-scratch or anti-reflective lens coating with a coupon (look for their ad in this week’s edition of the Reader). The offer is good until Sept. 15.

Check out Pend Oreille Vision Care at 514 Oak St. in Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry Eye Care at 6348 Main Street in Bonner Ferry and Priest River Eye Care at 6132 Highway 2 in Priest River. Or find them out on the web at pendoreillevisioncare.com.