Eye on Retirement

In a couple of weeks, Augusta's oldest name in eyeglasses will be gone in the blink of an eye.

The Murphy & Robinson Opticians store on Walton Way will close March 1, ending the firm's 73-year run as the region's oldest mom-and-pop eyeglass store.

Optician Phil Harris is retiring after 36 years of competing against big-box retailers and – increasingly – online eyeglass companies.

"There's a couple of other independent opticians around town," said Harris, 65. "But we're a dying breed."

Murphy & Robinson was founded in downtown Augusta's Lamar Building in 1946 by Jennings Murphy and Robert Robinson. Harris bought into the business as a young optician at a time when the company had as many as four locations.

The arrival of Augusta's malls in 1978 marked the beginning of the business' slow end.

"When the malls came, that's when the chains started to come," Harris said. "All the independent opticians and optometrists went to work for the chains. We didn't go that route. We stuck to our guns."

Today, the $100 billion eyewear industry is largely dominated by major companies such as EssilorLuxottica – a French company that owns brands such as Ray-Ban and retail outlets such as LensCrafters and Pearle Vision – and Duluth, Ga.-based National Vision, which owns the Eyeglass World chain as well as the vision centers in Walmart stores.

Murphy & Robinson's Wrightsboro Road store, which was operated for 40 years by optician John Anderson, closed last summer after its lease was not renewed by University Health Care System, which acquired the property during its purchase of Trinity Hospital in 2017. The land on which the store sat has since been leveled.

Augusta's oldest independent eyeglass store is now Casella Eye Center, which was founded in 1948. The Broad Street store is operated by optometrist Ben Casella, the grandson of founder Victor Casella.

Opticians such as Harris occupy the lower rungs of the eye-care profession. They primarily design, fit and dispense corrective lenses prescribed by ophthalmologists and optometrists, both of which  have the ability to dispense their own glasses and contacts. Most optician work today is handled in computerized labs by people with technical college degrees.

Old-school opticians such as Harris and Anderson learned by apprenticeship.

"It was more of an art and a craft – a skill that you were taught," said Harris, who learned the trade from his father, a licensed optician who worked for the former Thomas Optical Co. on Eighth Street. "You just started to work with these guys and after two years, if they vouched for your work, you were qualified to take the state test. Nowadays all you have to do is teach a person to operate the machine. It's like an assembly line."

It takes Harris five to seven days to grind, edge and custom fit lenses, compared with chain stores that can dispense glasses in an hour or two. Online-only eyeglass companies, such as Zenni, take two weeks to fulfill an order but can deliver single-vision glasses – frame and lenses – for as little as $50.

"There's really no room for independents like us anymore," Harris said. "Everything changes eventually, and that's OK."

Harris said he takes pride in having helped generations of residents find the perfect fit. Most of his customers are the same ones who went to his store's original location on Harper Street.

"I can think of one right now," Harris said, recalling a longtime customer from Wrens, Ga. "I put the first pair of glasses on her when she was 12. Now she's 48 and she still comes back to buy glasses from me."

At least until the end of the month. Harris sold his building at 1571 Walton Way to an Atlanta businessman Jan. 31 with the condition that he would vacate the building by March 1.

Harris said he's looking forward to retirement, but he said he'll miss his loyal customers.

"I had this kind of bittersweet moment," Harris said. "A lady came in and she looks at me and says, 'What do you mean, you're retiring?' You start realizing a lot of your customers are your friends, and that you're not going to see them as much anymore."

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