From wealth management to optics, Ryan D’Souza serves Goans with better vision

Ryan D’souza completed his education and was well settled in the busy city of Pune, Maharashtra. The thirty year old, was into wealth management and worked for investment firms based in the United Kingdom for a perfect salary and great lifestyle in the metro city. But Ryan had a vision and his vision was to give others better vision and redefine the business of opticians and all this included coming back to Goa.

“The cost of doing business in Pune is pretty high considering lease rates and taxes. The ease of doing business in Goa is much different, also for the fact that you know people around here and that is what wanted to bring me home immediately,” explains Ryan.

 Ryan quit his high paying corporate job and started Pine Tree- The EyeGlass Factory conceptualized and has moved beyond its Margao store flagship store at Pajifond and has branches in Vasco and Calangute.

“We wanted to change the way optician sells. In Goa per say or in most parts of India, it so happens that all eyewear, lenses, sunglasses or summer glares are glass counters and the customer has to ask for them and you’re at the mercy of the optician who’ll show you brands and frames of his preference or what he wants to dispose or makes more profit,” explains Ryan.

Ryan exclaims that at Pine Tree, the store works on a supermarket concept where in frames and sunglasses are kept on shelves and customers can walk across the store and try-out whatever they want, check their comfort and style and pricing and accordingly decide to buy what they want.

“We have frames from Rs 750 to Rs 20,000 and beyond and Goa has age-old opticians with the same ideas. Here we explain to people the meaning of anti-glare, UV protection, HD clarity, photo chromatic lenses and after we explain this to the customer, we’ve had customers who came to buy an Rs 750 frame and have even gone home with an Rs 16,000 frame and lenses. That’s the impact at Pine Tree,” asserts Marshal Vaz, the Vasco store manager, who’s very particular about lighting, display, style, using modern day apps and custom made posters and pamphlets to make eyewear simple to customers and more importantly to make customers aware of they wear to enhance their vision. Ryan explains to us how the company uses custom made pamphlets and posters and the apps to explain to a customer distortion, field of vision and clarity besides factors like anti-glare and Ultra Violet rays protection.

“Goans and people in Goa are willing to spend but they won’t simply spend, we have high end machines and optometric at our Vasco and Margao store. We can send these experts to your doorstep if it’s a senior citizen or someone immobile who needs their eyes checked,” asserted Ryan as he makes time to speak to us while he coordinates stock and frames at the Vasco and Calangute store simultaneously.

 “Calangute is a store only for sunglasses and caters to only the tourist on the coastal belt while the Margao and Vasco store have people walking in to see and try frames and buy lenses or they come through word of mouth. Today there are a lot of changes to lenses and things like smudge resistant, water resistant, dust resistant and even fog resistant lenses for those who hate foggy lenses after stepping out of the air-conditioning has to be explained to a customer. In alternate between the Margao and Vasco store and visit Calangute once a week to ensure that the business is flowing smoothly. 

Pinetree has been organizing eye camps in schools and colleges and tying up with NGOs and social clubs like the Lions Club and have had camps in Borda, Aquem, Davorlim and amongst building societies to create awareness to his growing business for over three years. They have given out free spectacles to students and the aged as part of their increasing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Ask him about online competition and he quickly explains that everybody has a unique face and a unique nose structure and the width of the face differs and that’s the key to a store that allows you to come and try its products like a supermarket which is never possible at online and he explains that to be his the reason behind the growing popularity of Pine Tree especially amongst the youth.

Ryan explains to us how he wanted to be different and hence chose a name like Pine Tree and didn’t want the usual a name followed by Opticians as the brand name of his store.

“We keep brands like IDEE, Police, Vogue, Ray Ban, Provogue, Opium, United Colours of Benetton, Park Avenue and others and will soon have Levis, Lee Cooper, FastTrack and Adidas while we are legally bound by certain laws and are an authorized dealer for Ray ban eyewear.

He explains this to us while telling us that online stores that offer huge discounts on eye wear most probably sell fake eyewear which could be harmful for your eyes.

“We have a legal contract with many brands that we will not give a discount on their products as it will lower their brand value and Ray Ban’s at 50% discount online clearly indicates the genuineness of these products,” stated Ryan. An upbeat Ryan who completes three years is happy that he could innovate till date and survive the Goans markets while his profits are on the rise and he hopes he can continue to meet his vision and give Goa better vision.