Laser Vision goes retail with Crown.(Laser Vision Centers Inc. is expected to sign a supply contract for excimer laser to Crown Optical)(Statistical Data Included)

Laser Vision Centers Inc. has set its sights on a new market: providing excimer lasers used to correct vision to retail stores that sell eyeglasses and contact lenses.

Laser Vision is expected to sign a contract soon to provide a laser to Crown Optical. Jack Klobnak, chairman and chief executive at Laser Vision, said Crown would be the first St. Louis-based chain to have this kind of partnership with his company.

On Sept. 1, Laser Vision signed a letter of intent for a similar deal with Boston-based Sight Resource Corp., which owns the Kent Optical chain in Michigan and the Cambridge Eye Doctors and Vision World chains in New England.

"This is a relatively new thing for us but something we are finding a lot of interest in from other retail operations across the country," Klobnak said. "I think they like the fact that we can almost private label refractive …