Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Fort Collins. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Nick George helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Fort Collins, Colorado.
Is your business serving the residents of Fort Collins? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpFortCollins.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
E81: The Art of Eyewear: Boutique Optical Care with Heart
Ever wondered what happens when a boutique shopping experience meets precision eye care? Kendra Apodaca of The Looking Glasses is revolutionizing optical retail in Fort Collins with a refreshingly human approach that goes far beyond selling frames.
Born into a three-generation optical family, Kendra literally grew up in the industry—taking naps under doctors' desks and "reorganizing" frame displays as a child. This lifelong immersion gives her a unique perspective on what truly matters in eyewear. Located in the Scotch Plains Shopping Center, her optician-owned boutique specializes in prescription eyewear, repairs, and high-fashion frames in an atmosphere that feels nothing like a clinical setting.
What truly distinguishes The Looking Glasses is their extraordinary commitment to personalized care. While primarily serving discerning women between 40-60 who appreciate quality and customization, Kendra's team has made house calls to nursing homes, delivered glasses to homebound customers, opened during off-hours to accommodate working parents, and even provided emotional support during difficult times. "We deeply care about our customers," she explains, "and I know a lot of places say that, but not everybody means it."
The journey hasn't been easy—starting the business while working 50+ hour weeks with two children under three tested her limits—but that experience shaped her compassionate approach to customer service. Kendra debunks common misconceptions about online glasses being a bargain, especially for those with complex prescriptions requiring precise measurements and adjustments that can't be replicated through virtual fittings.
Looking for eyewear that's as unique as you are, with service that treats you like family? Visit The Looking Glasses in Fort Collins, where they're proving that in a world of automated services, genuine human connection remains the most powerful form of care.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a family-run boutique optical store with a passion to serve our local community with unique eyewear and accessories and a welcoming and fun atmosphere? One such organization might be closer than you think. Today I have the great pleasure of introducing Kendra Apodaca with the Looking Glasses in Fort Collins. Kendra, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Good, good. How are you?
Speaker 2:Excellent. We're excited to learn all about you and your optical store. Tell us about your company.
Speaker 3:So we are an optician-owned optical. We're located right in the Scotch Plains Shopping Center. We're Drake and LeMay's and the term optical is in reference to where we just do eyeglasses, so prescription eyewear. We do a lot of eyewear repair. We do high fashion frames. We are optician owned, so that means we don't have a doctor on staff right now. It's going to be the picture a boutique, high fashioned high education, setting apart from the medical atmosphere that a lot of us are used to.
Speaker 2:Yes, I did an interview with the medical medical bending optician, who actually recommended you as someone that they used, that they work in tandem with. That's how we found you, so you can highly recommend it. How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:I was kind of raised in the industry. So when I was growing up, my grandparents owned a few independent optical shops in Kansas. My mom managed one, my uncle's an optician it's three generations in. I took naps under doctors' desks and I would disorganize the cases out front and all kinds of other things. In college I once went to apply to an optical that the doctor recognized me and said oh, you're that kid that threw up in the back and I'm like perhaps, perhaps we have too much of a history here. So, um yeah, I kind of grew up in the industry.
Speaker 2:when college, when what I wanted to do didn't quite work out, um, this was a good alternative what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry that people might not expect until you've got your experience there?
Speaker 3:Well, the first one is that online glasses are a good deal. They're advertised as I mean. I'm saying they're not a good deal. They're advertised as a fantastic deal and they're a lot cheaper. But I've seen measurements and prescriptions come back like super goofy and people get frustrated, especially in the progressive world or post cataract surgery or anytime that you need something to be just a little bit more accurate. That's not the way to go. So you really do completely get what you pay for.
Speaker 2:Who are your target customers and how are you attracting them now?
Speaker 3:I'd say target market is woman between 40 and 60, progressive, where cares about how to look, potentially has more than one pair we can maybe do a pair of really nice prescription sunglasses and also someone that maybe has some other vision concerns that aren't going to get dressed at other places. For example, someone who has, like, a high diopter stick on prism that we need to switch out every so often. Someone that might have alignment issues in near distance, or someone that we need to adjust the focal length for to get the music stand perfectly in focus. And it's not just going to be your average computer length or reading distance. We can really kind of customize where we're dialing in on that near range. So yeah, between 40 and 60 and I suppose particular would be the word I'm looking for Someone we can make happy by adjusting the particulars of their pair of glasses.
Speaker 2:Is the reason that you're not targeting men, because we have no sense of fashion and don't really care.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm targeting women, one because I am a woman and two because most guys will walk in and just kind of take 10 minutes and we're going to end up with the same plastic rectangle we did before. And most women come in and bring their husbands with them and then style them, and so if I target the woman, I get both sides of the couple, but if I target the guy, I just get another square frames.
Speaker 2:Wow, that is an ancient marketing technique that you're using there. So we know that marketing is the heart of every business and yours is unique. Have you ever thought about podcasting?
Speaker 3:No, this would be the first jump into that world.
Speaker 2:Outside of work. What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:I love reading. I am an avid reader, I like running some and I've been getting into some sewing projects. I just sewed a dress for my three year old and she was so excited and I was very proud of myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a big deal. You obviously need a sewing machine to do that, right, yeah, okay, let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it might have made you stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Are you wanting something that's business related or just a personal life hardship?
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of people assume that people that own businesses have just always had a perfect life right, and what we're trying to do is introduce you to the community as a real person that has had real problems and you overcame them, and this project that you're on and this passion that you have is part of that overcoming process. Is there something that happened in your life that was less than perfect, that that helps drive you, that you overcame, that made you stronger? Absolutely yeah, you don't have to tell us about the prison experiences.
Speaker 3:whatever you're willing to tell us, oh, let's see, I was raised in a divorce home. There was extreme drama surrounding that, like level 10. When I first started the Licking Glasses, my grandpa was helping me a little bit to kind of get organized, and this is how you run a business. But the hours we my husband and I were doing were just insane. And in the beginning let's I was, I was open a little bit longer and it was I didn't have a babysitter for my kids so I would bring them to the store with me, cause we were slow enough and they were young enough, and that first year I was probably doing, you know, 50 hours a week. My husband was just in a new startup company and he was like 60 hours a week.
Speaker 3:We had two kids under three that were at the store with us all the time and by the end of that year I I thought I was just going to lose it. I thought I was going to just keel over. It was a horrible, difficult start. Yeah, I'm surprised that we survived, essentially, I feel you.
Speaker 2:I've got two small ones at home right now and I started this new business less than a year ago and trying to balance them, I thought staying at home would be the right answer, but they're just more available, you know, yeah.
Speaker 3:I've had my kids trying to potty, train my kids and stay open when I couldn't afford an employee, and that was something I never want to repeat, both for the customer's sake and mine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Kendra, please tell our listeners one thing that you absolutely want listeners to take away from this interview regarding the looking glasses that we hmm, let me think about that for a second yeah, uh, well, let's come back to it. And why don't you tell our listeners all of the ways that they can learn about the looking glasses online, with the website and the social media channels that you have?
Speaker 3:yeah, we're on facebook. We're on instagram. Um, our website has a lot of information about different lens types and, with the frame lines we carry, we have a couple of videos on there. We are actually in the process of revamping our entire web presence, so in the next 30 days you'll see a new website up and then late this year we are going to have e-commerce available, so we're going to have a little option where you can frame shop online.
Speaker 3:I know some of our customers have moved out of state and so if you want to keep in the same frame company you're with, you can purchase frames online. I can't do lenses online yet, just because we believe it takes some really invested and careful measurements, questioning and time to get that right. And then we're also going to be offering dropshipping contact lens purchasing online now, and that will all be launched the end of fourth quarter this year. So I'm really excited about all the changes we're making there. It's going to be. It's going to be a little bit more accessible to people who are not quite in our small shopping center.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So that segues us back into the question I was asking you earlier what separates you? What do you want people to remember? That separates you guys from your competition? And let me help by telling you what I read on your own website your family run. And let me help by telling you what I read on your own website. You're family run. It's a boutique experience, which is not common. You guys offer an astounding line of accessories and eyewear and you're a welcoming and fun atmosphere, which is not something that other eye care facilities claim, but the one that turned me on to you had the same kind of attitude. So I like everything I'm hearing from these relationships, but is that pretty much what you want people to take away, or is there something you'd like to add to that?
Speaker 3:I'd like people to know that we deeply care about our customers and orders, and I know a lot of places say that, but not everybody means it. If you need to come in and you're having a hard life issue and you just need someone to talk with you and you need to tell us about your day, we're open for and we've done it before. If you are in a nursing home and your glasses need adjustment but you can't get out, we have brought all our tools and we've done visits other places. We've been to several different nursing homes. I can. We've people who can't get out of their house. We've delivered glasses to their house. We've opened the store weird hours because of a single mom's working schedule. If, if you need something and we need to bend for you in a way that is supportive, we're happy to do it.
Speaker 3:I've yeah, I've had people just come in because they need us to pray for them. 100%, let's do it. Come on in, let's chat. Yeah, we, we, we deeply care about our customers. We've had orders that have gone wrong and all of our staff is losing sleep. We'll, we'll, we'll pray over it together. We will and we'll, we'll sort it out. So when I say we deeply care, like I said, I really mean we. We deeply care about you as a person and not just a sale.
Speaker 2:I am feeling that, kendra, that's awesome. We really really appreciate you being on our show and we wish you and the Looking Glasses the very best moving forward.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPFortCollinscom. No-transcript.