Looking back on storied optometrist clinic's 100 years in Ottawa

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An early talent … and a change of plans

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Rodney remembers being 14 years old when a salesperson came to sell his family the latest lens edger machine.

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“He set it all up, and when he was on lunch, I cut myself a pair of glasses without any guidance from him,” he recalled.

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When the man came back, Rodney was wearing the pair.

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Goodwin Vision Care has provided eyewear to generations of customers, including prime ministers, political figures and everyday Ottawans. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

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“How do you like these?” Rodney had asked him gleefully.

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The man was shocked, Rodney recalled. “You actually did that on your own?” he recalls being asked.

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Rodney was impressed with himself, too.

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But while Rodney, his sisters and his brother all contributed to the family business while growing up, Rodney had spent most of his teenage years making other career plans.

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“I was told as a child that I would be running the clinic, and I did resist it through my childhood,” Rodney said.

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It wasn’t until he went to university to study physics and psychology that he changed his mind.

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“Optics involves, obviously, perception, sensation and the physics of optics,” he said. “So it all kind of worked together quite beautifully.”

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And now, perhaps ironically, at age 57 it is a dream of Rodney’s to have another generation of the family take over the clinic. “I’m working on it,” he quipped.

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Enough to build a small museum

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Rodney says the family had preserved a lot of Ottawa history over the century in business.

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“It’s almost like I could build a small museum of a lot of the artifacts and the things that have happened over the years,” Rodney says.

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Their house was one of the 4,500 Ottawa homes that had flood damage from the Canada Day rainstorm, and the family had to get rid of many possessions that his father and grandfather had accumulated over the years.

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But letters posted on a wall in Goodwin Vision Care still document the political figures who have visited.

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Rodney Goodwin, third-generation owner of Goodwin Vision Care on Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa, carries on a family legacy as the business celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

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Today, Rodney’s father is 98 and his mother is turning 87.

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“He would have dignitaries come from all over the world just to get eye exams from him, with people coming from India, Africa, and I have all of these artifacts now in my house.”

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The industry has changed with the times, Rodney says. When he was young, the business had no real marketing strategy, he said.

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“My father was always reluctant to do advertising and, you know, have too bold of a sign or anything like that, to have frames visible from the street,” he says.

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There was a consensus to protect the profession from over-commercialization.

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However, today, things like Google reviews and SEO are vitally important, “as opposed to in the past, you would just post a very large page in the yellow pages, and your reputation kind of carried things.”

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Goodwin says the business had to change to a have more aggressive internet presence, catching up with modern reality.

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If his grandfather were alive today, Rodney says he would be excited.

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“He was very engaged with civic life and it was society’s way of advancing. You have to kind of embrace these things and appreciate the benefits that (they) bestow on people.”

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The job, however, remains as rewarding as ever for Rodney.

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“I remember this one woman who came in and she had very, very low vision, and I was able to give her some advice … and she came back to tell me that she sailed around the world and it was because of me,” he said.

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“You get that sense of gratification of helping people all the time, every single day.”

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