Features.(optical sales during Christmas season)(Brief article)

Christmas is a great time for reflection but if you are thinking of indulging in some yuletide navel gazing make sure you look at the positives as well as the negatives.The end of the year traditionally spells a slowdown for optics and this year has been no exception. The general hustle and bustle in brightly decorated high streets up and down that land does nothing to make retail opticians feel any better. As the world and his wife scurry around shopping like there is no tomorrow to the tune of a thousand pinging cash tills and some remixed Christmas musak, the poor old optical practice can only look on. To compound the misery further, the Department of Health delivered an early Christmas present in the form of a paltry 2.5 per cent increase in General Ophthalmic Service fees.But look a little deeper. Sure, there are plenty of folk in the high street, but look at the lengths to which retailers are having to ...