You could, perhaps, call it “inner vision.”

Actually, Kitsap Optical owner and co-founder Linda Johnson has based the success of her entire business – from it’s inception nearly twenty years ago to meeting the newer, more specialized needs of her current patients – on clear vision.

The Bremerton-based, six employee optical company was founded by Johnson, 54, and her late husband, Jerry, in 1982. Jerry, a licensed optician, crafted prescription glasses for the couple’s patients while Linda ran the front office and managed the company.

Today, Johnson uses two licensed opticians, two apprenticing opticians and two administrative staff members to run a business that is nearing its twenty-year anniversary.

“We’re very definitely a specialty business,” admits Johnson. “We do only prescription glasses…we don’t handle contact lenses and we don’t perform (ophthalmologic) eye exams. What we do, and do really well, is make custom eye glasses.”

It’s that kind of specializing, Johnson asserts, that keeps her office and staff filled with business and sets them apart from discount stores offering everything from no-appointment-required exams to $29 eyeglass frames.

“We stock close to six hundred frames in the store,” Johnson said, “and when a patient walks into our store with an eyeglass prescription, we spend the time to make sure that we ask all the questions necessary to make sure that they leave happy and stay happy as customers.”

In offering an example, Johnson says that she or a Kitsap Optical staff member will spend time with a customer uncovering things like hobbies, sports, occupation and weekend activities. The reason, says Johnson, is that there’s something for just about every special need but it takes her staff’s detective work to make the right fit.
“There are glasses and frames these days for specialty sports like running, golfing and even water-based activities like sailing,” said Johnson.

“For example, the glasses we recommend to runners offer better coverage at the sides, fit tightly, offer wind resistance and might be tinted yellow to offer better road perception.”

For sailors and those wearing their glasses near water, Johnson recommends Polarized lenses while golfers can even opt for a new lens style that, supposedly, offers better depth perception while studying the length of a green.

Even occupation plays a role in choosing the right lens or style of glasses, says Johnson, pointing to the special needs that frequent computer users can have shifting their eyes from a keyboard to a desk to a screen and possibly to someone across the room.

“They’re not bi-focal,” said Johnson, “but a new type of lens called ‘Access’ lenses. They’re a progressive lens, meaning that the prescription will change from the top to the bottom of the lens gradually, allowing the eye to move quickly and focus where needed. They’re a major improvement for many of our patients.”

Kitsap Optical also spends a lot of time attuning themselves to the special eyewear needs of their youngest patients, including offering a complete selection of polycarbonate (unbreakable) frames and lenses and offering a two-year guarantee on all frames against damage.

Actually, Johnson says, they offer a two-year guarantee on all the frames they offer, for children or adults. “We stock only high-end, quality frames. They’re more expensive than many of the cheaper frames that come in from Korea or China but we want happy clients who can rest assured that they’re getting quality.”

And quality, claims Johnson, is what has kept her company – and her staff – stable during the last two decades. “Some of our staff have been here ten or fifteen years and we have patients who’ve been with us since we first opened the doors. You don’t see either of those things happening if you skimp on professional quality.”.