FIRST IMPRESSIONS MATTER, and there’s no better way to set the tone for your business than with a memorable doorway. Whether it’s quirky and fun or elegant and inviting, your front door is the first glimpse your patients get of your practice. It’s an opportunity to introduce the experience within, whether it’s a playful nod to your brand or a seamless integration with the surrounding architecture. And let’s not forget that doors can play a role as attractive interior fixtures, too.
In this roundup, we showcase seven businesses that made thoughtful use of doors and doorways, inside and out. Let them inspire you to create doorways that truly reflect your practice’s personality.
The Eye Doctors
Tampa, FL
We couldn’t discuss doors without a nod to the entrance to the commode at The Eye Doctors, a feature that puts the age-old optometric question in a wholly new context. (When this fixture went viral on social media a while back, the owners were quick to credit Dr. Tavel’s Eyecare in Indianapolis, IN, with the idea for this decal.)
Sights & Shades
Canandaigua, NY
We love what Jennifer Yerden has done with the front of Sights & Shades, turning the entrance to her upstate New York boutique into an enclosed space shrouded in floral and arboreal fixtures, and flanked by two display spaces to really create a sense of an experience beginning for customers before they even set foot in the store.
Optical Arts
Toledo, OH
Memorable doorways aren’t always about grand entrances, either. We love the creativity and fun of this graphic that turns the back door at Optical Arts into a closet door for an “eyewear wardrobe.’’ The practice has given a lot of thought to the uses and appearance of its exteriors, walls and surfaces, pioneering curbside service years before the pandemic, posting graphics on its windows and doors, and featuring eyeglass wallpaper in its entrance way.
Eye Care Center of Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO
Doors aren’t just for o ice exteriors; they can be an important part of your interior aesthetic. In the 1902 structure that Eye Care Center of Colorado Springs calls home, an industrial chic vibe prevails, reinforced by the hanging barn-door style partitions used to divide sections of the o ice, and eye-catching exam room doors made of reclaimed wood.
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Innervision
Philadelphia, PA
If, like Innervision in downtown Philly, you’re lucky enough to be in a stunning, historic building dating to 1847, the key is simply allowing the Victorian Italianate doorway to shine, which they do admirably, adding just a hint of their signature blue to the space in Rittenhouse Square, drawing locals and tourists alike into their street-level showroom.
Great Spectacles
Stockton, CA
Sometimes, there’s more to a door than meets the eye. Not that the entrance to Great Spectacles isn’t as elegant and striking as the rest of Lynda Winter’s Central Valley boutique. But it’s the details that really set this threshold apart. According to Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of harmonizing one’s environment, “A green front door represents growth because it is the shade of green plants in nature,” explains Winter. It also means prosperity because it is the same color as U.S. currency. And in line with Feng Shui principles, the entrance is strictly kept free of obstacles.
Dr. Texas L. Smith, OD
Citrus Heights, CA
It’s a theme that eyecare businesses return to time and again — and why not? What says “eye doctor” more clearly than the classic Snellen chart? For Dr. Texas Smith’s patients, many of whom are second and thirdgeneration clients, this optometric decal o ers a fun reminder of Dr. Tex’s personal touch and the attentive eyecare they’ve grown up with as they step through the door.
