Looking back on storied optometrist clinic's 100 years in Ottawa
The centennial legacy of three generations of Goodwins includes one who once served as Ottawa’s mayor
When young Rodney Goodwin pulled down the lever on one of the newest machines in his family’s optical lab, it closed in on a piece of industrial diamond.
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Rodney’s father, Dr. Grenville L. Goodwin, learned of his son’s mishap from lab technicians, who found that someone had tampered with their lab equipment.
Then 10-year-old Goodwin had been fascinated with the latest technologies of the 1980s.
But the diamond had exploded.
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“I didn’t know the difference between an industrial diamond and something that was very valuable,” Goodwin recalled. “So … I was kind of traumatized by that, but I always found it kind of funny.”
The incident has since been a core memory for Rodney. In the 1980s, Dr. Grenville L. Goodwin must have been the first, and perhaps the only, optometrist to make contact lenses on site, Rodney said. That was why, in many ways, the memory embodied the excitement Rodney felt when Goodwin Vision Care got new tech.
“It was like a science lab,” Goodwin recalled. “It was very exciting to go into this environment and be like … a mad scientist.”
Goodwin has come a long way since his days of pretending to be a mad scientist. And so has Goodwin Vision Care. This year, the 171 Sparks St. business is celebrating 100 years of keeping its eyes peeled on an ever-changing downtown Ottawa.
Over the century, the business has grown famous for providing exclusive and high-quality eyewear brands. Goodwin says they obtain their products from independent and specialized European manufacturers.
The brick and mortar location has now been in the family for three generations, with Rodney’s grandfather, who had a stint as Ottawa’s mayor, starting the business.
