Coyote DeGroot Lab Rabbit Optics, Chicago, IL
With a name like Coyote, it’s probably not surprising Coyote DeGroot of Lab Rabbit Optics, an ABO Advanced-level certified optician, has a creative approach to running his business. “It’s an art form … all aspects of the business come together to create a complex masterwork,” he says. His favorite part of the day? “Lunch.” And though he loves not having a boss he does NOT love being the boss. When asked about his other least favorite parts of running his business, nothing truly optical even ranks. He hates the construction equipment that has obscured the front of his shop for the past year and when people ask him “to repair their crappy gas station sunglasses.” Totally understandable. But if those crappy sunglass wearing customers sometimes get the better of him, he unwinds by … hanging out … at the climbing gym, a bar, or “hanging out the next morning with coffee and ibuprofen.”
