Eyeowa Optical in Fairfield sold to Axis Vision Care

FAIRFIELD - The optometry clinic formerly known as Eyeowa Optical on North Court Street in Fairfield is under new management.

The business is now a part of Axis Vision Care, which has clinics in Washington, Tiffin and Williamsburg. Axis Vision Care purchased Eyeowa Optical on Jan. 1, which coincided with interior remodeling that updated every room in the Fairfield clinic.

Dr. Randall Liebe still is seeing patients at the Fairfield branch just as he has been since the early 1990s. However, he plans to step down later this year in the hopes of moving closer to his children, two of whom live in the Des Moines area and one who lives in Atlanta, Ga.

Liebe said he and his wife, Jacque, who has been the clinic's office manager, are ready to slow down. He said running the clinic has required more time and energy lately.

'Medicine is not what it was 10-20 years ago,” he said. 'It's become more regulated and administratively complex. We got to the point where we couldn't do all the parts of the business, from IT to handling human resources on all the regulations.”

Liebe said all the extra time he and Jacque were pouring into the business was time they couldn't spend with their grandchildren. In 2020, Liebe put out feelers looking for people interested in buying his business. He found the perfect fit in Axis Vision Care.

The first thing Axis Vision Care did after acquiring Eyeowa Optical was to remodel it. The Fairfield clinic was closed from late December until early February so contractors could remove some interior walls and rearrange the layout of the office. A sink was added for hand-washing. The exam rooms were moved from the back of the office to the middle so patients wouldn't have to walk as far.

Liebe has agreed to continue working at least through July and possibly longer if his replacement has not been found. Dr. Ryan Striegel, who has been with Axis Vision Care since 2009, said the business hopes to hire a replacement for Liebe who could work full time in Fairfield.

'I'll be at the Fairfield clinic every other Wednesday, but we want to get someone in the Fairfield clinic permanently,” Striegel said. 'People get attached to their eye doctors. I jokingly told Dr. Liebe that we'd hire him for 20 years because he's so well liked.”

Under the business's current setup, Striegel and another doctor, Dr. Tim Courtney, rotate between the other three clinics. Striegel said Axis Vision has hired a third doctor who will work in the Washington and Tiffin offices, and she will start in May.

The Fairfield clinic is usually closed on Wednesdays, but Striegel said Axis Vision plans to change that after Liebe steps down later this year.

'We want to have doctor coverage every day in our clinics,” Striegel said.

Background

Liebe lived in Riverside as a young boy before moving close to Washington as a kindergartner. He went through the Washington school system, where he met his eventual wife Jacque. After graduating from optometry school in 1988, he practiced in the Quad Cities before moving closer to home.

Liebe started working at Eyeowa Optical in 1992 when the business was owned by John Genkinger, who had started it four years prior. Genkinger was not a doctor, and thus could not perform eye exams, though he could fill prescriptions. Liebe was living in Washington at the time, and told Genkinger he would be willing to move to Fairfield and work full time in the clinic, which was exactly what Genkinger needed. Liebe did the exams and contact lens fitting while Genkinger focused on filling prescriptions.

'We were like two separate businesses under one roof,” Liebe said.

Genkinger died unexpectedly at the age of 65 in 2009. His widow sold his part of the business to the Liebes, who remained the sole proprietors until selling the business to Axis Vision Care on Jan. 1.

Liebe said he does not plan to retire from optometry completely this year, but instead wants to ease off the gas a bit, working perhaps three days a week. Until then, he plans to dutifully serve the residents of Fairfield and the surrounding community.