Opening an optical practice: the decisions to take before the costs

Whoever wants to open an optical practice searches Google for one thing: how much it costs. It is the wrong question, not because costs do not matter, but because costs are a consequence. They depend on six decisions that come first, and that most people who open take without realising it, at the moment they sign the lease or the first frame order. This article does not give a figure. It gives the six decisions, in the order in which to take them, and the mistakes I see most often in those who start from the premises instead of from the project.

An honest premise: the legal requirements for opening an optical practice (qualifying title, authorisations, registers, medical devices) vary by country and region and must be checked with the trade association and a consultant. Here I talk about what comes before and after the paperwork: the business project.

First decision: for whom, before where

The order I see almost always is: find the premises, then think about who will come in. The right order is the opposite. First you decide whom the practice exists for: the families of a neighbourhood, the professionals of a city centre, sportspeople, those looking for research eyewear, those needing specialist contact lens practice, those who want a thorough examination. Not "everyone": a group of people you can describe in one sentence. Everything else follows from that sentence, starting with the premises. I wrote about it for practices already open in Being independent in 2026: for whoever opens it counts twice, because they do not yet have a habit to defend.

Second decision: where, as a function of for whom

The premises are chosen afterwards, with a criterion that is not the price per square metre but consistency with the people of the first decision: where they pass by, where they park, where they trust. A practice for the families of a neighbourhood does not need the high street; one for city-centre professionals does. The wrong premises for the right customer are the highest fixed cost a practice can have, and it pays for them for ten years.

Third decision: with what, that is, the assortment as positioning

The initial assortment is the decision in which the most money is lost, because it comes at the moment of maximum enthusiasm and minimum experience. The sales reps are kind, the collections are beautiful, the minimum order seems reasonable. Six months later, half the frames have not moved. The assortment is decided as a function of the first decision, with a few consistent lines, and is widened only on sales data. The rule is in Choosing the assortment: you buy for the customer, not for the rep. Whoever opens should start with less than the premises could hold.

Fourth decision: with whom, that is, the team and its skills

A one-person practice has a precise limit: when that person is in the refraction room, nobody sells; when they sell, nobody examines. The decision on the team is not "how many people", but "which skills must be there from day one and which can come later". An owner-optometrist with one person trained in consultative selling is a structure that holds; two technicians with nobody able to propose a second pair is a structure that turns over half of what it could. Sales training is not a later cost: it belongs in the initial project, as I wrote in Sales training for the optical practice.

Fifth decision: how, that is, the working method

A practice that opens without a written method builds one at random in the first three months, and then keeps it for ten years. The method is little: how you welcome, how you examine, how you propose, how you hand over, how you recall. Five moments, described on a sheet before opening, with one sentence each. It is what makes the practice recognisable from the first customer and replicable when the second team member arrives. The Charismatic Method is the way I do it; what matters is that there is one.

Sixth decision: with which numbers, that is, the break-even point

Only now do the costs arrive, and they arrive in a different form from the one searched for on Google. Not "how much does it cost to open", but "how much must this practice turn over every month, with these premises, this team and this assortment, so as not to lose money". It is the break-even point: the sum of monthly fixed costs divided by the average margin. Whoever calculates it before opening knows how many people they must serve a month and with what average ticket, and can decide whether the project holds or whether one of the five previous decisions has to change. Whoever does not calculate it finds out at the end of the year. The numbers to keep every month from day one are those of management control.

The lease is the last thing to sign and the first that everyone signs.

The mistakes of those who start from the premises

Signing the lease before the project. It is the mistake that contains all the others: the premises decide the for whom, the assortment and the fixed costs, instead of being their consequence.

Opening with a full assortment. The initial stock is the hardest money to recover: it starts slowly and sells at a discount. You open with less and widen on data.

Postponing sales training. "First we open, then we train" means building the wrong habits in the months when habits are formed.

Calculating the costs and not the break-even. The opening figure says how much is needed to start; the break-even point says whether you can stay open.

Franchise or independent without a reason. A franchise gives a sign and an assortment in exchange for freedom and margin; independence gives freedom in exchange for a project you have to have. Neither is right in itself: it is right as a function of the first decision, that is, the for whom.

Whoever is about to open an optical practice, or has recently opened one, can work on the six decisions with Trade Up in Italy and The Charismatic Practice elsewhere; the first step is a call to understand where the project stands. The other articles are in the optical retail strategy area. The full picture of the numbers is on the Management control theme page.