Half a century after opening its doors as Detroit’s first Black-owned full-service optical dispensary, Heritage Optical is still very much a family business – and its founder intends to keep it that way.
George P. Barnes Jr. started Heritage Optical in 1975 with a name chosen deliberately. Not Barnes Optical. Not something clinical or corporate. Heritage. The word, he has said, represents everything – his legacy, his children’s legacy, and his hope that the business will one day pass to his grandchildren as well.
That vision has proven durable. What began as a single storefront on the streets of Detroit has expanded into Heritage Vision Plans, a national network now serving more than 32,000 eye care providers across the United States – all while remaining firmly in family hands…