By Barrett Newkirk, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
Rex Teeple move his established optometry practice to a new location near Exit 26 earlier this year. He is among the area business owners involved in a new initiative to promote the exit, goto26.com, The group’s Web site is not yet up and running.
How long have you been in the eye-care business?
The practices was located on West 38th Street since 1976. Dr. Jim Wessar was getting to retire, and the office became Ossip in August of 2006. Ossip is an Indianapolis practitioner that has expanded to 17 locations around Indiana.
Why did Ossip decided to move the business to Scatterfield Road and 53rd Street?
Their intention was to move it to Exit 26 where there’s more visibility and more traffic. So we moved here and opened this office on June 1 of this year.
How has the relocation affected your business?
I like the location, I like the office. It’s a newer, nicer office. Since our office moved here, our office has really dressed up a bit. There are nicer things that we offer.
What’s the goal of the gotoExit26.com initiative?
The goal is to just make people aware of all that Exit 26 has. There are numerous businesses around here. People like to drive down to Exit 10 or up to Muncie, but we have so much to offer here, including the casino that just opened. There’s a phenomenal number of businesses along this stretch.
Is there anything that Exit 26 is lacking?
As far as retail, it’s doing well. Exit 22, obviously, is trying to get the business park going, which is a totally different type of exit than a retail exit. Since we are primarily a retail exit, we’ll let 22 have the manufacturing.
