Contact lenses

In most cases, glasses are ready in an hour.The stores carry a large stock of lenses, including an exclusive line of high-definition lenses.

�We represent the value end of optical,� Gebhardt said.Low prices are key.

The starting price includes two pair of glasses for $99.

There are about 500 frames at this price.

�The assortment at this price range is deeper than anywhere else,� Gebhardt said.

He added that they also have a large selection of children�s frames at this price.

For a person requiring progressive lenses or other special treatments, the cost is more.�The average transaction is $200.

This could be for more than one pair though,� said Brett Calvert, vice president of marketing for Eye Care Centers of America.

Trying to choose from so many frames can be overwhelming, Calvert realizes.

He said the staff receives extensive training to make the selection easy for the customer.

Designer frames and collections such as Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, Gant, Candies, Nine West and Bebe are included in the mix at Visionworks, headquartered in San Antonio.The first local store opened at Golf Mill in Niles.

Four others have been launched since the end of February.

The target customers for Visionworks are women between the age of 35 and 64 with children.

The d�cor at the shops is pleasing to the eye.� �When you come into...

“There are no solutions to worry about and (the wearers) aren't sleeping in them.” Schnider also pointed out that many of today's relenting parents, like Ferri, wear contacts themselves.

“(Arianna) sees that I wear (contacts), and my sister wears them, and my mother wears them,” Ferri said.

“She's seen how we handle them.” In the end, it's up to the doctor to determine whether or not a patient is mature enough for contacts.

Wise uses two determining factors: “One: Is the child asking for contacts?

Sometimes it's the parents who want the “And second: Are they responsible enough to handle caring for them?

” Even with disposable lenses, contact wearers are responsible for taking them out before they go to bed and putting them in cleaning solution and a case every night.

Caring for contacts, in addition to getting the hang of putting them in and taking them out, can be tough for young wearers.

“I thought I had made a mistake because Arianna was having trouble at first taking the contacts out and putting them back in,” Ferri admitted.

“But after about three weeks she was doing it all on her own.

I think she's mature enough to handle it.” Not fond of glasses Brandi...

But to people of a certain age, the inductee who brought them the most pleasure is Peter Goldmark, inventor of the LP.

Staff writer Michael E.

Young, who has a couple thousand LPs in his collection, explains what the iPod generation missed out on.

Six decades ago, Columbia Records forever changed the way the world listened to music.But talk about a low-key revolution.

The very first LP – or long-playing record – arrived on June 28, 1948.

Mendelssohn's Concerto in E Minor came wrapped in a thin, blue-green cardboard envelope, decorated with a sketch of a leaning Greek column, a design disparagingly known as "the tombstone."I found my copy at an estate sale in Farmers Branch for $2.

And in a world content with manipulated digits squished and squeezed into tiny plastic boxes, this lovely 12-inch slab of vinyl still provides the true glory of the music, in pure, unadulterated analog.The LP's extended form – up to 22 minutes per side, enough to put most symphonies on a single record – opened the door for all sorts of musical possibilities.Without that format, there would have been no "concept album" – no Sgt.

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, no London Calling, no Blonde on Blonde, certainly no 17 minutes of the stoned-drone of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."A...