Family-owned optician’s office closed in downtown SLO. Here’s why

A longtime family-owned optician’s office has shut its doors in downtown San Luis Obispo.

Michael’s Optical at 719 Higuera St. turned its blue and white “open” sign to closed for the last time Sept. 15.

The reason the 44-year-old brick and mortar is now empty? Owner Michael Nutt listed a multitude of economic reasons, including Managed Care insurance, online ordering and box stores not helping the family business.

“I continually get calls going, ‘Oh, no, you left. How are you leaving after, I’ve been coming there 20 years, and now, what am I going to do?’” Nutt told The Tribune. “Those things make you want to stay open and keep trying to strive. But that’s where the other economic parts start to weigh in more and more.”

The pandemic did not help the longtime business, Nutt said.

Michael’s Optical being right downtown when the restaurant parklets redirected traffic and parking situations made it difficult for the office to keep clients that weren’t local to SLO, he said.

“Things began to change from there where older people from other areas weren’t wanting to come downtown as they really didn’t know where the traffic pattern would be where they would be parking and that type of thing,” Nutt said.

The building, next to Buffalo Pub and Grill and The Library bar, has since lost all of its decal, signage and character.

Instead, red “for lease” signs are on the windows along with a poster message reading:

“We are immensely grateful to all our wonderful customers and community for trusting us to provide you with exceptional service and quality products over the years. The great news is that we will still be able to provide you with the same level of expertise in our Atascadero location. We look forward to seeing you.”

While Michael’s Optical in downtown SLO is permanently closed, the business’s original location in Atascadero at 8300 El Camino Real is still going strong, Nutt said.

“We’ve enjoyed all of our patients that we’ve had and we hope they’ll come up to Atascadero and work with us,” he said. “It’s not that far of a drive up to here … we produce eyewear pretty quickly and with good quality. We believe it’s going to still be good, and we’ll provide service to the community.”

How Michael’s Optical got its start

The optician’s office first opened its downtown San Luis Obispo location in 1981 on Chorro Street, moving to its spot on Higuera for a larger location a year later, according to Nutt

Before that, Michael’s Optical opened in Atascadero in 1979, quickly expanding to SLO, Paso Robles and Morro Bay thanks to the commitment of Nutt’s family becoming involved in the family business.

“The feeling of having your family work with you through all these number of years is very gratifying as an individual,” he said. “It brings a lot of pride to me to see the work that they do and how well they work with it.”

For more information

Michael’s Optical at 3800 El Camino Real in Atascadero is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For more information about the business, visit its website at michaelsoptical.com or call 805-466-5770.