T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY
From left to right, Real Optics Vice President Kami Kinney, Floating Optician Jazmine Crilly and Optician Brisel Davalos pose for a photo inside of the new Eyemart Optical Outlet located at 2414 S. Center St. Ste. 202 in Marshalltown.
Eyemart, an Iowa-based chain of optometry clinics, has been open at the former site of Papa Murphy’s Pizza near the Marshalltown Mall since early October, but employees are excited to fully showcase the new location with an upcoming ribbon cutting and open house on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
Kami Kinney, the Vice President of Eyemart’s parent company Real Optics, said they started considering opening a Marshalltown location about three years ago as their closest clinics were in Ames, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids previously. Because of personal connections with people who live in town, Kinney heard about the old Papa Murphy’s space and got the ball rolling from there.
According to Kinney, the first month or so has been a “very soft opening” while staff was trained, and they didn’t want to immediately overwhelm them. Now that they’re a bit more established, however, she’s ready to get Eyemart’s name out to the public and reach more potential patients.
“The biggest thing that we’ve noticed even in the short time that we’ve been here is that there’s not a lot of exams available. People are waiting long periods of time to get eye exams, so we have the ability to do eye exams almost every day,” Kinney said. “So that’s a big thing for us… We’re not trying to disturb the business out here, but there’s a lot of other towns around here that this is the central location they come to.”
Another key benefit at Eyemart is that one of the opticians, MHS graduate Brisel Davalos, is bilingual, and Kinney said they run the gamut from relatively inexpensive glasses that cost $50 to $500 pairs.
Eyemart will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays by appointment. Kinney is excited to grow the business in Marshalltown and said people have been “amazing” so far. The ribbon cutting will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 29, and the open house will go on all day.
To learn more about Eyemart, call 641-354-5690, visit eyemartopticaloutlet.com or stop in at 2414 S. Center St. Ste. 202.
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Contact Robert Maharry
at 641-753-6611 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.
