Fort Worth native Alyce Jones founded Adair Eyewear in 1980. The business has moved several times within the last 45 years but has always been based in Cowtown. Adair Eyewear provides both prescription and nonprescription glasses.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Ismael M. Belkoura: Just to start off, Alyce, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Alyce Jones: I was born in downtown Fort Worth, at Dorsey Hospital, and it was the only hospital where Black babies could be born.
My industry, the optical industry, I learned about through my brother-in-law at the time. It was one of the businesses that survived the depression. I figured that if I got into that business, I would have a job for the rest of my life because people needed glasses, and they would always need glasses of some sort.
I originally worked in Boston. I got my degree at Boston University, and then I learned that I wanted to go into the optical industry when I was working for then-Gov. Michael Dukakis after I left the education system in Boston. I ended up training with the only Black ophthalmologist in Massachusetts. I told him I’d work for him for free on his busy day — if I liked it, then I would leave him and go into optical school, which was Tyler Junior College. He trained me once a week for a long time, and I liked it so much. Then I quit and did what I said I was gonna do.
Belkoura: You mentioned that people will always need glasses, and that’s an industry where there will always be a need. Was there any point that your drive shifted from, “This makes sense for my future” to “This is now a calling”?
Jones: Yes, definitely. I knew it was for me. I knew that it was going to be something that I could expand and enjoy, and that the optical industry was changing from just wearing glasses to being cosmetic, being beautiful, having colors and designs.
Belkoura: Talk to me a little bit about when and how you started Adair Eyewear.
Jones: I was working in Dallas, driving every day to Dallas from Fort Worth, and then there was a gas war. I realized, with the gas war in 1980, that was not going to work out financially for me.
I decided that I would open up my own business. My husband at the time said, “Well, you can just do this by yourself.” I never had intentions to be self-employed. But then I made that decision to be in the industry and open up a store by myself.
Belkoura: How much has the eye industry changed since you founded Adair in 1980?
Jones: It has tremendously changed. The optical industry that I started in was basically a mom-and-pop kind of situation. Then it changed to a one-hour concept of buying glasses, where you could go in, buy glasses and walk out the door with glasses. Then after that, it changed, where you could just buy them online, and then they ship them to you. Now, you can go online, take a picture and with a measurement, it sends you your glasses. So the industry has changed tremendously, from bread-and-butter glasses to being online.
I do believe that the technology has made a difference, where it minimizes the importance of the people that work in the optical industry. That is one of the most relevant situations that we have now — putting together the technology and the knowledge in an optical shop.
Belkoura: What are the products that Adair provides? What are the services that you provide?
Jones: We make our glasses at the store. We try to have the best equipment that will work for the glasses so that people have no problem with their lenses falling out.
We have premium glasses. All materials we use wear well on people and last for a long time. Most of our customers have more than one pair of glasses. We sell Maybach, Cartier and Lindberg.
We have horn glasses. We have wood glasses. We have custom-made glasses for people. If people are larger in size, we order glasses that would be larger for them. If we need to modify glasses, we modify glasses so they fit properly for people. That’s really important for people to understand what we do. We do color analysis for people. We look for glasses for people that also have color blindness.
Belkoura: What would you say makes Adair Eyewear stand out from the crowd from other optical shops?
Jones: Service, quality, technology. I’m constantly looking for the latest technology for different kinds of lenses. People do different things in their lives, and there’s different lifestyle lenses for people to wear. The consumer does not know what lenses to buy for their lifestyle. It’s not a cut-and-dry situation.
We service people for their needs. We know our customer base and understand what their needs are. That’s very important in this day and time. We have a full conversation about what their needs are. The materials are very different for people when it comes to their needs. Sports have added to the industry, such as pickleball. When you think about the ’60s and you think about 2025, it’s very different now how we live.
Belkoura: Owning a business and continuing having that business for 45 years is very impressive. Is the secret sauce customer satisfaction?
Jones: I believe (in having) knowledge of our customers that come in. We select things for them, not them selecting things for themselves. The optical industry is set up as “You do it on your own.” But when people come in, if they don’t have us to help them, then they’re lost. And if they don’t let us help them, because they feel like we’re in their space, they end up leaving because they’re not used to people helping them and giving them information. The information that we have is very important to people, and we let them know that.
The other thing that is a concern is we lose a lot of people because we don’t take insurance. We can’t take insurance because we’re not owned by an eye doctor.
We have control of all of our inventory. We can have any inventory that we want to style people in and to give them the quality of the materials that they need. And I feel like that is lacking in this industry. Having our knowledge is really critical and has made us be who we are. I’m constantly reading and studying about what is the latest thing that is out there to help people.
Belkoura: How has the community engaged with your product over 45 years, and what has their support meant to you?
Jones: We need more support. I don’t think a lot of people that have moved to Fort Worth know what we do and that we exist. I have people that have followed me for 45 years. But my customer base, they’re getting older. I’m looking for people who are looking for the kind of quality that we have in the store and to educate people about what we do. That is one of the issues that I have as far as being self-employed. I believe that I’m still the only optical shop that is independent, female-owned and Black-owned in Texas for as long as I’ve been in business.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
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Great Job Ismael M. Belkoura & the Team @ Fort Worth Report for sharing this story.
