by E. C. Hartley

Grant Lambert & Kevin Larson opened Sunray Optical in Selby Avenue's Blair Arcade in July 2003, after four years of working part-time selling shatterproof eyewear over the Internet. They founded the Web site www.heavyglare.com in 1999 with the intent of serving a small niche of sportsmen and law enforcement professionals. Motorcyclists, all-terrain-vehicle drivers, skiers, rock climbers and police officers were all potential customers. Little did they know what the future held in a place as far away as Iraq.

The two entrepreneurs met 10 years ago. Lambert was studying design at St. Cloud State University, and Larson was working in an optical laboratory. They shared a desire to run their own business, and they thought impact-resistant glasses and goggles might have a market. Larson had the laboratory expertise, and Lambert could design a mean Web site. Together, they made the connections with framemakers for their lenses.

In 2000, Lambert quit his job as a Web page designer to work full time on the Heavyglare site. The business was growing rapidly, with orders coming in from fire departments, state police agencies, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Marshals Service. Frame suppliers nationwide were discovering that the small manufacturing company could quickly supply high-quality, impact-resistant lenses that met strict government specifications. The scratch-resistant polycarbonate lenses that Heavyglare had developed could be cut to fit nearly any frame and prescription and offered excellent protection from the sun. Some of its lenses could withstand the blast of a 12-gauge shotgun from 10 yards away.

Larson quit his job as manager of an optical store following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to build a laboratory that could meet the growing demand of the U.S. Defense Department and its large-scale deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sales jumped from the casual orders of previous years to $80,000 in 2002. One of the largest frame manufacturers in the country, the Wiley Company of California, was getting large contracts from the armed forces for its combat eyewear, which were equipped with Heavyglare lenses.

Sunray's sales of impact-resistant glasses and goggles rose to $350,000 in 2003. So far this year, those sales are at $1.75 million. Lambert and Larson are projecting $2.5 million in sales for 2005.

The partners are keenly aware of the importance of their product. Letters arrive occasionally from soldiers in the field. Army infantryman Robert Oxford wrote: I recently returned from Iraq wounded. My face received shrapnel to the left side from a rocket-propelled grenade blast. My eyes were untouched because I was wearing my Wiley x SG-1 goggles. I am now home to recuperate before I go back to Iraq. Please tell your employees that your product is wonderful and saved this soldier's eyesight.

Lambert and Larson moved their operation to 400 Selby Ave. for several reasons. The Blair Arcade had the space we needed to process our lenses, and the location also gave us retail space, Lambert said. Sunray carries a complete line of fashion frames from major manufacturers, and we felt that the Ramsey Hill area was a good market for our products.

The laboratory adjacent to the Sunray Optical shop is loaded with sophisticated equipment used to process polycarbonate blanks into lenses. There, the blanks are edged with prescriptions, washed, sanded, polished, coated, dyed, computer-cut, set into a frame and packaged for shipment. It can be a demanding process. Not long ago, Sunray had just a week to fill an order for 2,000 goggles for the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq.

"Obviously, we're doing well in one segment of our business," Lambert said. "Four years ago, Kevin and I were part-time employees in the company. Now we have nine full-time people working for us, and we may need more. But we're anxious to be opticians to this neighborhood as well to provide fashionable, top-quality eyewear to the people who live and work nearby."