City Optik Stockholm – From Heritage to Modern Visionary
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In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Asa, co-owner of City Optik, a Stockholm-based institution that has been serving customers since 1938. Asa shares the story behind City Optik’s enduring success, its unique approach to customer service, and what makes their store a standout destination for both locals and international visitors. From their philosophy of “heart and skills” to their curated selection of frames and innovative store design, City Optik reflects a deep commitment to quality and authenticity in every aspect of their business.
City Optik
www.cityoptik.se | Drottninggatan 80, 111 36 Stockholm | +46 8 791 75 70
Hello Asa, City Optik is an institution in Stockholm. How long have you been around?
The store at this location has been running an optical business since 1938. In 2003, my three colleagues and I became the owners of City Optik.
What is your personal background? How did you get into optics?
Like many in this business, it all started with poor vision. I became nearsighted at twelve, and every time I visited my local optician, I thought the store was a nice place and being an optometrist seemed like a fun job.
Stockholm is also a tourist metropolis. How does that affect your clientele?
It’s exciting to be located on Drottninggatan, a busy pedestrian street in the heart of Stockholm. There’s always something happening outside our windows—so many people in different styles from different countries, with lots of happy faces. Many of them take pictures of our store. My colleague Maria is an expert at creating window displays, and she’s really a leader in window design in the Swedish optical business.
We get a lot of international customers who love our selection of frames, including the best from Swedish designers like Oscar Magnuson. We haven’t really asked whether they find us by chance or check us out online beforehand, but once they’ve been here, they tend to come back.
What is special about working with foreign customers?
In a way, it helps us see our selection with fresh eyes. What’s familiar to us is often new to them. Many are delighted to have an optometrist exam in-store without needing an eye doctor. Since we have a lot of international visitors, we keep a large range of single-vision lenses in stock, and we can prepare glasses within hours. For progressive lenses, they usually buy the frame and get the lenses fitted at their local optician.
How would you describe the philosophy of City Optik?
Heart and skill. We do everything with heart and are extremely focused on delivering quality—quality with heart. We often say we build our business around a cup of coffee, a cake, and a pleasant conversation. We love people. And even more, we love people with gorgeous glasses on!
You have a great store interior. When did you set it up like this?
We redesigned the store in 2017.
What criteria did you use to design your store?
We focused on creating a place where customers would genuinely enjoy being—cozy and beautiful. We also wanted to try new ways of displaying frames. Previously, we had all the frames on the walls, but now most are on shelves.
Do you feel that the store’s interior design positively influences your customers?
Absolutely! There are so many things to talk about besides the frames. For example, the glasses holders on the wall are made of corks. We hoped to drink enough champagne to use champagne corks, but we didn’t manage it for the entire store, so we had to mix in ordinary wine corks too. The mirrors are designed like the front of a frame on one wall and like a monocle on the other.
How would you define your brand portfolio? What criteria do you use to select your partners?
We look for frames with a lovely design and an interesting story. Eco-friendliness is the second key factor.
What is particularly important to you when including a brand in your assortment?
It has to feel right in our hearts. We look for something we’re missing—a line that fills a gap, like more feminine frames, bold black designs, or something from a country we’re curious about.
What exciting trends are you currently observing in the industry? Which shapes, colors, and materials are popular?
This autumn, there’s high demand for bold, straight lines in plastic for both men and women. Crystal-clear frames are also popular, with customers referencing the Netflix series The Perfect Couple. Although we expected small, 90s-style frames to make a comeback this year, large, 70s and 80s-inspired glasses are still in demand. Cat-eye shapes are also emerging, along with tinted lenses in medium grades, which are quite popular.
What is particularly Swedish about City Optik’s offerings compared to Central or Southern Europe?
In Stockholm, we don’t see bright colors. Black and natural shades dominate. We don’t do well with highly colorful or detailed designs. It’s all about bold, big, but classic and natural frames.
What characterizes your store apart from the attractive interior and high-quality brand portfolio? What are your strengths?
We are highly educated and committed to delivering quality work from start to finish—top materials, top staff, and top equipment.
Your website is also modern and successful. When did you launch it?
We’ve had a nice website for many years. The latest update was launched just a year ago.
What was conceptually important to you with the website?
The goal was to make it as similar as possible to the real-life store.
We can also find an online store on your website. Why did you decide to offer one, and what products do you feature there?
We started with an online store to offer eye care products like wetting drops, glasses care products, and contact lenses. Selling frames online is challenging, but we’re considering it in the future.
How active are you on social media, and would you say it’s an important channel for an optician?
Yes, we’re active on all social media channels. I handle all of City Optik’s web and social media myself, and I find it fun and efficient. Right now, Instagram is our main focus, but I plan to put more energy into Pinterest and TikTok soon.
What do you do to get noticed by potential customers?
We invest heavily in our window displays and are active on social media.
What keeps your customers coming back, whether online or offline?
A familiar, friendly approach.
What do you think will be important for opticians in the coming years to survive in the market? Your top three priorities, please.
The right frames, the right skills, and uniqueness.
Asa, thank you for this interview!
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