The partnership between Essilor Canada and Riverside Opticalab Limited is one of several to make the news this past week.

Essilor has been involved in several partnerships and buys over the past few months including Suntech, the maker of reading and sunglasses in December of 2013.

In a phone interview, VP of Finance for Essilor Canada, Sylvie Pelletier said the partnership is something the company is looking forward to implementing.

Our mission is to offer the opportunity for everyone to see better,” she said. “This will help us reach more people.”

She noted Riverside Opticalab is known within the industry for the customer service and excellent relationships with eyecare providers.

She was unable to provide a dollar figure on the partnership, which she indicated was a ‘private partnership’.

The partnership with Riverside Opticalab was first announced to business partners and clients in an email.

It read:

It is with great pleasure that we announce that a partnership has been established between the Riverside Opticalab Ltd group and Essilor Canada LTD, effective January 10th, 2014.

The Riverside Opticalab group based in Ontario and Québec will continue to act and operate independently. Our mission will remain to continue offering our customers the best ophthalmic solutions accessible from a multitude of manufacturers.

We believe that thru this partnership the Riverside Opticalab group will build on the Essilor resources to provide our customers with the latest technologies and innovations that are available on the market today and in the future.”

In the statement President and CEO Roland Laplante said, “We are excited about this announcement that will benefit our customers,” says Roland Laplante President and CEO of the Riverside Opticalab Ltd group.

Laplante was unavailable by telephone to make a comment.

Essilor followed up the announcement with further details.

We are pleased to announce the partnership of Riverside Opticalab Limited to the Essilor Canada Community. Riverside Opticalab Limited is based in Ottawa and primarily sells to Independent Eyecare Professionals throughout Canada; they have built a strong reputation of fast, friendly reliable service and will continue to do deliver their unique selling proposition as they have in the past.

This is very much aligned to our corporate mission to Deliver Better Access to Quality Vision to Everyone, and it continues to expand our commitment to ensure that Prescription glasses requiring personalized services are best delivered through ECPs. Essilor continues to invest in developing the products and services to best serve our Industry and this new partnership allows us to continue to do so.

Pelletier says noted she could not provide any information on the possibility of further partnerships.

We don’t have anything official right now, but we never say no when a good opportunity comes along,” she said.