Barbara Jean stands outside Strickland Optical Lab, the business she and her husband created 30 years ago. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

For 30 years, Strickland Optical Lab has been seeing patients in Jamestown.

Today, to coincide with their 30th anniversary and respond to a changing industry, the eye company will be changing their hours.

As SOL shifts to a more automated business, their work week will now be from Tuesday to Friday. Their hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.

The company was founded by licensed optician or ophthalmic dispenser Barbara Jean and optical technician Steve Strickland. Jean was “blocking,” a process that cuts and preps the glass lens for fitting, at the lab Wednesday morning when she reminisced about their 30-year long journey.

Jean and Strickland, who are married, returned to their home area of Chautauqua County in October 1987, and founded their company. Previously, the two worked at a company that would later be known as Lenscrafters in Nevada.

A week before Christmas more than 30 years ago, the family was shocked when they found themselves jobless after their business had changed management.

“My daughter and my husband and I found ourselves out of work, (without) notice,” Jean said.

For Christmas, Strickland bought his wife a used typewriter in order for her to type up a business plan. That plan was Strickland Optical Lab.

“Now that I know how all this works, we’ll start our own business,” Jean recalled saying to her husband.

The decision to start their business back home, Strickland being from Bemus Point and Jean from Lakewood, was unanimous. Another lucky break was that the day the loans were approved 30 years ago happened to be Black Monday, the day the stock market crashed. Despite the devastating effects of the crash, Strickland Optical Lab proceeded with their business plan.

Strickland remembers the early days and how much effort it took to get their business operational.

“Thank goodness we have so many wonderful people who still keep us busy after all these years,” Strickland said in a news release. “We just can’t say enough.”

At first, Strickland Optical Lab was just a wholesale store that would sell prescription orders to doctors around the area. But with the change in insurance and contracts, Strickland Optical Lab had to change with the times. Jean was a licensed optician in other states, but not in New York. After acquiring her license in New York state, they moved to their new location on Washington Street, 16 years ago. Strickland Optical Lab was then able to see their own customers without having to deal with the doctors directly.

The stark contrast from being jobless a week before Christmas and celebrating 30 years of running a business taught Jean an important lesson.

“Attitude is everything,” Jean said. “Attitude is what motivates you to get information and to have faith, eventually, that people are going to come through or that your going to come through and it just all kind of fell into place.”

For the pair of them, they will have more time focus on music. Strickland plays classic rock and Jean is a singer-song writer. In the past, they had a country group known as Gotham Rose who had the opportunity to open for the likes of George Jones and Diamond Rio.

Strickland Optical Lab is located at 1911 Washington St., Jamestown. Because of their new hours Strickland Optical Lab encourages people to call ahead if they aren’t sure about the changes at 483-3280.

Jean emphasized that Strickland Optical Lab is not going away.