The Grand Island Shopko store is gone, but Dr. Jason Hawley and optical manager Deb Golff are still on duty at Shopko Optical, ready to welcome new customers and old.
The Grand Island Shopko — like other Shopko stores — closed its doors for good on June 23. But as in other cities, Shopko Optical remains.
In late September, the Grand Island Shopko Optical moved to a new location, at 1919 N. Diers Ave. The business opened in that new spot on Oct. 5.
A corporation owns the Shopko Optical stores.
“We just provided a good service that they wanted to continue,” said Hawley, who is an optometrist.
Shopko Optical expects to open 80 locations in 2019 with further growth expected in 2020 and beyond, says a news release.
Hawley and Golff are very familiar with Grand Island. He’s worked for Shopko Optical in Grand Island for four years. Golff has been with Shopko for 31 years, 29 of them in Grand Island. The first two were at the Hastings store.
People are also reading…
Shopko Optical still provides high-quality eyecare, says Hawley, who graduated from the Illinois College of Optometry.
The store does comprehensive eye exams. “And then we also fit contacts,” he said. If you get something stuck in your eye, on a windy day for instance, Shopko will remove the foreign object.
The store co-manages Lasik surgery. “We can’t do the actual surgery itself,” Hawley said. “So we send them to an ophthalmologist, who does the surgery, and then we do all the followup.”
The store also diagnoses and treats ocular disease.
Shopko Optical sells designer frames.
The store is next to Sleep Number, not far from Menards and Taco Bell.
Shopko Optical is open from 9 a,m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. The store is closed Sundays.
The phone number is (308) 382-7661.
Shopko Optical accepts most major vision plans including EyeMed Vision Care and Spectra.
Shopko Optical is the trade name of Shoptikal LLC, an affiliate of Monarch Alternative Capital LP.
Monarch Alternative Capital LP is a private investment firm with approximately $5 billion in assets under management across various investment vehicles. “Monarch was founded in 2002 and focuses primarily on opportunistic investing across distressed debt, special situations equity and real estate,” says the news release. The firm’s headquarters is located in New York, with a subsidiary office in London.
Jeff Bahr
Reporter
I am the Cops & Courts Reporter for the Grand Island Independent. I welcome news tips!
