New venue

Scott Weaver remembers the smell from his childhood. It came from a mixture concocted by his father for cleaning eyeglass lenses.

Today, Weaver is more likely to catch the scent of new carpet. In late July, his optometry practice, Weaver Eye Associates, opened a new office near the former Delco

Centre

The move was bittersweet. Before opening the new location July 25, Weaver closed the three-person office on North Beaver Street in downtown York where his father, George, first started selling eyeglasses in 1948.

"He wanted to be downtown because, in his era, that's where the action was," said Scott Weaver. He helped out in the store as a child, starting in the 1950s. One of his jobs was filling bottles with his dad's homemade lens cleaner. George Weaver died in 2003.

Today, lens cleaners are manufactured in bulk. And, when it comes to eye care, the action is in the suburbs. Weaver's downtown location wasn't attracting enough new customers to justify keeping it open, Scott Weaver said.

"We kept a stable practice but not a growing practice," Weaver said. He declined to reveal his company's revenue. An established optometry office should have about 20 new customers for every 80 existing customers, he said.

To spark growth, Weaver tried special promotions and remodeled the downtown store. He even hired consultants to help with marketing. "We did all we could do," he said.

Downtown York no longer is the retail center it was in 1977, when Weaver joined his father's business as an optometrist. Thirty years ago, the city had several department stores and at least 15 eyerelated offices, including opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists, Weaver said.

For the last three or four years, Weaver Eye has been the only optometrist downtown. "It's a center for lawyers, for restaurants and for accountants,- Weaver said "Health care is just not there."

In 1999, Weaver adopted a long-range plan to close the downtown office in five years. It took a year longer than expected.

"There Were times when, sentimentally, I wanted to keep It open," said Weaver, who lived in the late 1970s in an apartment above the store. "So, maybe I procrastinated a bit."

Weaver built the new office for $1.2 million. The building has all the features a modem eye-care center needs, including a large reception desk, a spacious display area for glasses and a room where people can learn how to put in and take out contact lenses.

The new office has four exam rooms, twice as many as the old office had. It also has at least 45 parking spaces, compared with 28 spaces at the city location.

For all the amenities, the new office still doesn't have the character of the old one, said Tracey Reever, Weaver Eye's general manager. She started as a receptionist with the company 12 years ago.

"I think that's what I'll miss the most, the character," Reever said. "it was a historic building and the antiques, the carpet, the furniture, it all fit."

Weaver auctioned off the furniture and fixtures July 23. He kept only a picture of the storefront that had hung in the reception area.

Reever kept a foot-high wooden model of an old city building with a shingle hanging above the door that reads "Dr. Weaver's Classic Eyewear," the company's original name. A patient made the piece, Reever said.

York regrets losing any business, said Matt Jackson, the city's economic-development director and redevelopment authority coordinator. But, he said, the city had a net gain of jobs and businesses in 2004 and appears to be doing the same in 2005.

For example, White Rose Bar & Grill expanded this year next door to Weaver Eye's old office, Jackson said.

Still, the loss of Weaver Eye disappointed at least one customer, Jim Sneddon, Yorks elected controller. He had gone to the downtown office since moving to York in 1995 and could walk there from his home in the 500 block of West Market Street.

"I can certainly understand their desire to move and the reasons for moving," Sneddon said. "But, it's sort of sad to continue the trend that you see with services leaving the city."