Let’s not bury the lede here.

The Vision Council’s bold decision to move Vision Expo East out of New York City after the 2024 events is a huge deal.

The post-pandemic trade show scene still is working itself out. And a case can be made that trade shows in general don’t hold the same cache they once did.

However, any changes to the biggest event on the U.S. optical industry calendar would elicit a reaction. Moving VEE from one of the world’s great business and fashion centers to Central Florida is a seismic shift the ramifications of which won’t be fully understood for years.

Read our story here.

We had a sense something was going to change with the tentpole Vision Expo events sooner rather than later.

We’d already noted a number of adjustments within the eyewear trade show space this year; for instance, the arrival of a few smaller regional shows.

The reshuffling of the trade show conference deck is of great interest to many an eyecare professional.

Read our story here.

Check out our gallery here.

Peruse our conference calendar here.

Change was in the air as 2023 came to a close.

Marcolin made its own bold move this past fall when it acquired independent German eyewear manufacturer ic! Berlin GmbH.

Big fish do tend to gobble up the little fish in business. And it is always a big deal.

Read our story here.

We’ve kept tabs this year on a deadly bacteria outbreak linked to eye drops.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed 81 Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections and four deaths across 18 states. Read our story about it here.

But that wasn’t the only eyecare product scare this year. The FDA has issued these warnings:

–Amniotic fluid in eyedrops here.

–National pharmacy chains selling unapproved eyecare products here.

–Barefoot workers in eyecare production facility here.

Advancements in technology have been a big storyline this year: For the world in general and the eyewear industry in particular.

Where will A.I. take us as we barrel toward the singularity? (That is kind of a tongue-in-check question, but also kind of not.)

Read our story here.

Georgetown Optician’s  whimsical use of A.I. for its 2023 ad campaign certainly was a lovely diversion.

As much as we looked ahead in 2023, we also took time to take a look back.

Three of our most popular stories this year were part of a three-part series on eyewear companies that once were featured on the hit TV show Shark Tank.

Our “Whatever Happened to…” series caught up with these businesses:

Part 1: Proof Eyewear here

Part 2: Pair Eyewear here

Part 3: Frameri here

While we don’t know the brave new world technology is creating for us in the future, we can recognize where technology has taken us to date.

Just think how different optometry would be without the invention of the humble Lensometer?

American Optical’s game-changing device got its due in 2023 more than 100 years after it was invented.

Read our story here.

Data breaches are concerns to customers and patients alike.

No data breach in 2023 generated more interest from our readers than the one that happened to EssilorLuxottica in 2021.

Read our story here.

It wasn’t quite as captivating as 2022’s Depp-Heard celebrity trial which gave an unintended boost to AM Eyewear.

However, Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski trial with retired optometrist Terry Sanderson captured the attention of the nation for a stretch earlier this year.

Read our story here.

Before Patrick Dempsey was (finally!) named People Magazine’s 2023 Sexiest Man Alive, he sat before us on a couch on a New York City balcony.

Now, we aren’t saying our chat with McDreamy is why he gained Sexiest Man Alive status in 2023 at age 57. But our story wasn’t not the reason!

Read our story here.