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Longtime Gallatin optician retires




Eddie Swan fits a customer for new eyewear. SUBMITTED

Eddie Swan fits a customer for new eyewear. SUBMITTED

After 45 years of fitting thousands of local residents for glasses and eventually contacts, the only thing Optician Eddie Swan has his eye on is a more leisurely lifestyle.

A graduate of Gallatin High School and diehard Greenwave fan, Swan started working for Gallatin Optical Co. in 1977 and went through a four-year apprenticeship there.

In 1997 he bought the business from David Lilly. Swan has been a state-licensed optician for more than 32 years.

“I was born and raised here and I guess I’ll be here till they carry me out,” Swan joked.

Things have changed some in the business since 1977, Swan said.

“The progressive lens is one of the things that has changed things — it used to be almost all line bifocals,” Swan said. “The styles of frames and sizes have changed. In 1998 they were bigger frames, then they went tiny, and now they are coming back bigger.

“The anti-reflective coating on the lens is also something we didn’t have then.”

One of the biggest changes Swan has seen is the major trend towards online shopping in eyewear and contacts.

“The customer service is what we were able to do, and online, you don’t get any customer service,” he said. “We are seeing that in every business — the customer is going away.”

Swan said the biggest change in the city he’s worked in for all these decades, is the explosion of growth and traffic over the years.

“It created more opportunity — more people mean more potential customers and that was probably a good thing,” Swan said. “In town early on, if we went out to eat, I would go in and I would see customers,” he said. “It was a small town where everybody knew everybody but very rarely will I see somebody I know when I go out now.”

Low insurance reimbursements and a lack of available eye doctors led to Swan’s decision to retire this year.

“I’m an optician that fills the prescriptions, not an eye doctor,” he said. “We’ve always had eye doctors in the building with us but for the last three years, we haven’t been able to find a doctor. They are telling me there’s a shortage because a lot of new doctors don’t want to be in private practice. They want to work in a corporate situation.”

While Swan said he plans to take it easy, he’ll still keep busy.

“I’m going to get up and go to work doing something – I’ve got a farm and the plan is to enjoy it.” he said. “We’ve got a trip this summer — me and my wife and some other things that we are wanting to do.”

Swan said his optical business has been a generational one.

“I’ve been in this so long — I started off with them coming in as a child and now, they are bringing their own children,” Swan said.

While he’s looking forward to retirement, the move is bittersweet, Swan admitted.

“That’s the sad part, is all those relationships you have built over the years – they weren’t just patients, they are friends,” he said. “The first thing I ask them when they come in is not ‘what can I do for you’ it’s ‘how are the kids’ or ‘how is your mom?’ That’s going to be the hardest thing to say ‘bye’ to.”

Swan is married with two children and an active volunteer of the Gallatin Sertoma Club. He also enjoys spending time with family, friends, and farming. Gallatin Optical officially closes on May 20.

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