More Images


NEW YORK—Optical sales throughout the U.S. experienced a substantial decrease over the course of last week (Nov. 23-29) in all service/product categories. Due to the entire four-day Thanksgiving Day weekend being within the seven days for which optical sales were most recently tracked, the downturn ranged from -26 index points for contact lenses to -34 index points for gross revenue. The other three categories—exams/refractions, frame units, and lens pairs—declined at rates of index points in the low 30s.

Regionally, contact lenses in all regions declined at a lesser rate than all other categories in all other regions. Contact lens sales for all census regions tracked declined at rates in the mid -20 index points, while all other categories in all other regions experienced declines in the mid -30 index points, except for frame units in the Midwest, which were down 29 index points.

Other than contact lens sales, the West suffered the largest declines within all service/product categories when compared with the other three census regions, ranging from -33 index points for lens pairs and frame units to -36 index points for gross revenue.

The Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker data is compiled by Jobson Research from GPN/EDGEpro   and ABB Analyze data. Another element of the report illustrates Consumer Sentiments about the COVID-19 response and purchasing intentions, with data supplied by The Vision Council.

This index baseline was developed by Jobson Research from total sales from an average 7 days in the first quarter of 2019.

Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker