High Plains Vision

Dumas Vision Source, Dumas, TX

OWNER: Tory Moore, OD; URL: visionsource-dumas.com; FACEBOOK: : facebook.com/tory.moore.od; FOUNDED: 1990; Opened featured location: 2018; EMPLOYEES: 8 full-time, 1 part-time; AREA: 4,600 sq. ft.; Buildout cost: $850,000; ARCHITECT AND DESIGN FIRMS: RetailOne – Design; OMG – Displays/Signage; R. Stephen Brooks, Construction Architect, Amarillo, TX; TOP BRANDS: Luxottica, Marcolin, Oakley, Safilo, Charmant, Alcon, Marco, Optos, Optovue, Neurolens, Maximeyes

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MOST OF OUR America’s Finest honorees talk about serving a neighborhood, a particular area of a city or maybe a town. But Dumas Vision Source, located in the High Plains ranching and oil town of Dumas, TX, has fittingly wide horizons, drawing patients from all points within a 100-mile radius encompassing the four counties at the top of the Texas panhandle, as well as eastern New Mexico, the southwest corner of Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle, since 1990. It was in that year that Dr. Tory Moore returned to his hometown from optometry school and founded the practice in a 900 sq. ft location inside the hallway of a small, interior mall building with one employee. (And we get why he’d want to return — Dumas, located halfway between Dallas and Denver, is described by Moore as the kind of place “where you can see tomorrow coming and yesterday going due to the wide-open spaces. We have the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets ever.” He can also be trout fishing in the streams of New Mexico in four hours.)

A series of rented locations housed the steadily growing practice until, in 2016, Moore took a leap of faith and started the process of having his own building constructed, moving in two years later. “If I was going to build, I needed something that didn’t look like every other optical. I wanted a Purple Cow,” he says, referring to Seth Godin’s book of the same name extolling the virtues of differentiation.

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That distinctiveness begins upon arrival, where patients are greeted at a concierge desk just inside the door, and continues in the optical, whose separate departments wrap around the reception area to encourage waiting patients to browse. The Women’s area is a chic, feminine boutique, while the Men’s area has a masculine, trendy vibe with an industrial edge. The Luxury section has a jewelry store feel “like you are in a Neiman Marcus or other high-end store.” Frame displays are equipped with digital tablets running vendor ads and allowing patients to take and send selfies.

A high vaulted ceiling with cathedral like windows lets in plenty of natural light, while the halls and clinic area are decorated with colorful canvas wall hangings created from pictures Moore has taken during his travels all over the world. “Besides adding color and texture, they create interest and are often topics of discussion,” says Moore, who sourced most of the tile, wallpaper, wall decor, lights and furniture for the office himself to help reduce costs. Moore credits architect Ian Rattray at Retail One Design with helping to “take my vision for this unicorn or Purple Cow of an office and put it into a drawing” and shouts out OMG! Optical Marketing Group for help with the displays and digital merchandising.

An open floor plan keeps things flowing in the pretest area, where the sight of all the machines lined up creates a strong impression on patients, Moore says. An Optomap retinal scan is performed on all patients, even if dilation is performed, and the images are reviewed with an explanation in the exam lane on a large computer monitor. He personally escorts each patient to the checkout area or hands them off to an optician.

“We are absolutely loving the new Varilux XR PAL,” says Moore, adding that the acceptance rate has been great — same goes for Transitions lenses. Moore’s team is finding it hard to keep Ray-Ban, Oakley and Wiley X in stock, and also does well with Alcon’s family of contact lenses products in Dumas’ dry, windy climate. “We recently upgraded our EHR to  Maximeyes.com on the cloud and have been with First-Insight since 2005 due to their instant chat support,” he adds.

After three decades in business, Dumas Vision Source is typically booked out for weeks and largely eschews active marketing. Locals are not big social media users anyway, he says. Sports programs are big in Dumas, so the practice does support youth programs to keep the name in front of the public. Overall the focus is on internal marketing and the office experience. A case in point is the eyewear dispense, which sees frames presented to the patient on a velvet or leather tray, with every frame getting adjusted and warmed in the frame warmer at least once, even if not needed.

Moore makes a point of attending charity events, Chamber of Commerce gatherings and the like, as “People like to go to a doctor they can feel comfortable with personally, and one way to get a peek of a potential new doctor is to meet them casually in a relaxed setting.” Ultimately, whether it’s outside the office or in, Moore is passionate about what he does. “I cannot believe I get to help people see better and save vision while getting paid for it. I love to explain things enthusiastically going through the exam and teaching people about their eye anatomy or how to take care of their eyes. And I think that also helps make the experience better as well.”

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Five Cool Things About Dumas Vision Source

1. ELEGANT TOUCH. The peacock chair in the Luxury area is an homage to Moore’s maternal grandparents, who had peacocks on their farm in Iowa.

2. HELPING OUT. The practice supports Storybridge, a charity providing free access to children’s books for low-income families, and Snack Pak 4 Kids, which provides food supplements for chronically hungry children.

3. MAGIC NUMBER. Moore asked the phone company for the number 935-20/20 and sure enough the previous holder had canceled it exactly three months earlier: the minimum required. More than luck, Moore sees it as a “God wink.”

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4. I FEEL YOU. Moore is one of his own worst patients with a -10.00 Rx. “It gives me great empathy for my patients. I started wearing contacts in 7th grade and it changed my life — my self-esteem especially.”

5. DIVINE INSPIRATION. When the office was in the framing stage, staff wrote various Bible verses on the framing studs and concrete floor. “Patients literally are standing on the Word of God,” says Moore.

PHOTO GALLERY (8 IMAGES)