Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Standard Optical, a 113-year-old Utah-based eye care provider, unexpectedly closed its stores, leaving customers unable to retrieve their glasses or contacts.
- CEO Stephen Shubach cited post-pandemic financial struggles, including increased wages and costs, as reasons for the closure, alongside a failed company sale.
- Despite the closure, Shubach assured customers that order fulfillment remains a priority, with the company's lab continuing to complete glasses jobs and efforts underway to resolve back-order issues with contacts.
WEST VALLEY CITY — Standard Optical customers looking to pick up their glasses or contact lenses are being met with locked doors. On Monday, the 113-year-old Utah-based eye care provider shuttered its stores.
At the Sugar House location, on the door and just below a growing stack of failed delivery notices, we saw a sign saying the store is "closed for the forseeable future." Calling the contact number on the website didn't yield any better results – just the message telling us the number we're trying to reach is currently unavailable.
But when we stopped by Standard Optical's headquarters in West Valley City, I was let in by a customer, Lily Salgado. She has a complaint very similar to one we've been hearing.
"I've been waiting for about a year for my contacts," she said. "I've been to three locations and no update whatsoever."
Salgado says she has been driving all over the Salt Lake Valley, desperate to get her hands on the contacts for which she says she's already paid about $1,000 for.
The KSL Investigators have heard from several viewers who say they've ordered and paid for contact lenses or glasses but haven't received them. In some cases, it's a problem that's been going on for months. Complaints have also been stacking up with the Better Business Bureau Mountain West, which has slapped the company with an F rating.
"We did, as a company, struggle post pandemic," Standard Optical CEO Stephen Shubach told me.
He says rising wages and other costs have put the company behind. Owners were preparing to sell the company but this past Monday, that deal blew up.
Into the dark
"We went dark," Shubach said. "It means that we have no employees — that we had to lay them off because we couldn't meet payroll. Everything was set up for this Sept. 30 deal."
Going dark does not mean out of business, insists Shuback. He says they hope to reorganize and reopen.
"We decided to lock up for now, restructure the company, and go forward from that," he said.
"What kind of timeline are you looking at?" I asked.
"Probably two weeks," Shubach responded.
"You think your stores will be open again in two weeks?"
"I would hope so."
In the meantime, Shubach says he is making customers a priority.
"What message do you have for customers who have paid, but haven't gotten their products?" I asked.
"We're doing that right now," he answered. "So, for example, our lab is open and it's completing glasses jobs right now. There's a little bit of a back-order problem with contacts, but we are rectifying that as we go forward."
Indeed, as I sat in Standard Optical's lobby, I listened to their friendly receptionist calling people to let them know their orders are ready and handing over the completed orders to other customers as they came in.
I pointed out to Shubach that the phone number on the website is disconnected, so he gave me another number for customers that need to reach him. That number is 801-972-0203.
