Celebrating 10 Years with Major Expansion

February 10, 2025

Julie Grove, OD, FAAO, Dipl. ABO, was running out of room in her original 1,600 square feet about a decade after opening 21 North Eyecare in Valparaiso, Indiana, in 2013. Yet Dr. Grove didn’t want to leave the downtown area, referred to as Valpo by locals, which offers a perfect combination of boutique shops and restaurants, as well as an ice-skating rink and concert area.

Around that same time, the optometry office where Dr. Grove had referred patients for vision therapy (VT) stopped offering the services. Dr. Grove said her “lightbulb” moment came to her in November 2023, when she decided she should expand into the space above her practice. By doubling her square footage, she could better serve her patients and the pediatric eye care needs in her community for VT and myopia management services.

The main floor and optical at 21 North Eyecare

It was a perfect solution and a bittersweet moment; Dr. Grove and her family lived in that upstairs apartment in the early years of opening the practice before relocating and renting the space to tenants. Dr. Grove gave six months’ notice to her tenants and began the process for CAD drawings and permits. She says that she appreciates the guidance during these steps from her colleagues at iCare Advisors, where she also serves as Director of Managed Care Strategy.’

CUTE AND COMFORTABLE WITH PURPOSE

Renovations and construction was underway during June and July, and the upstairs expanded space—21 North Kids—opened in August 2024. The dedicated pediatric space includes its own optical, pre-test room, two exam lanes, and a vision therapy room. “It’s a niche that needs to be served in Northwest Indiana,” Dr. Grove says. “It needed to be bright and relaxing, not intimidating.”

Michelle Samardzija, Dr. Grove’s neighbor and an interior designer, took her vision for a comfortable kids’ space and made it a reality. “My budget was different from when I was a cold start, when I had to be very cost conscious in design decisions,” she says. “I had more financial liberty with this as an expansion. We already had revenue, so I could spend a little more. It’s super cute and a fun place to be for kids.”

FORMER APARTMENT BECOMES PEDIATRIC SPACE

Dr. Grove’s old master bedroom is the VT room, and the playroom and her daughter’s bedroom became exam lanes. There’s also a dry eye spa room on the second floor, which will be home to the practice’s intense pulse light therapy (IPL) equipment. She’s grateful for the chance to be back in the old space where she grew her family. “I get to go upstairs and see the beautiful view of downtown Valpo. It’s sunny and airy.”

The expansion meant more room for the entire team, including Sarah Tsagris, OD, who joined Dr. Grove in 2020 to help keep up with patient demand. With the new pediatric space, Dr. Grove hired Jennifer Johnson, OD, FCOVD, a pediatric specialist, who she says has been an amazing addition. “She has a great personality, and she is a blessing,” Dr. Grove says. “Her passion was to help grow and build a pediatric clinic, and this was her chance to do so.”

For now, all patients check in downstairs and then proceed upstairs for those services. Eventually, the upstairs reception will be staffed as well. A wall was removed in the main floor optical to expose the staircase for patients to reach the second floor, and some overflow adult patients go up to use those exam spaces, too.

PRACTICE FULL OF POTENTIAL

Dr. Grove, who originally thought she would spend her optometry career working in Veteran Affairs, is glad she took a pathway to private practice ownership. “I’m very blessed to be able to work a compressed schedule; three days of patient care from 9 to 3 without a break. I eat on the fly,” so she can leave and walk a block north to pick up her daughters from school. “I get to be the one to take my daughters to school and pick them up from school every day. As a business owner, I am able to develop a schedule that is conducive to my family life.” She spends her two additional days dedicated to practice administration and helping iCare Advisors clients open their cold-start practices.

With the added space, Dr. Grove is ambitious about the future. She looks forward to helping Dr. Johnson develop her VT program. Also, she would like to partner with an RN or aesthetician to provide in-house aesthetic treatments in the IPL room. From a clinical standpoint, she enjoys scleral and specialty contact lens fitting, an area that has been most rewarding. She also enjoys participating in the training of fourth year optometry school student externs from the Illinois College of Optometry, who rotate through her practice.

One factor remains the same despite all of the changes, and that is Dr. Grove’s dedication to serving her patient base. “My favorite part of all of private practice has been caring for families. Now, over 10 years into practice, my patients and I have a history together,” she recalls. “I love looking at my schedule to see who is coming in for the day, and recognizing everyone’s name and their family. It’s fulfilling getting to develop those relationships and I try my best to care for my patients properly. I’m grateful to have fallen into a career that I love.”