Natalie Wozny Glebiv, OD, is a lifelong Chicagoan. She attended high school downtown and is heavily involved with Chicago’s large Ukrainian community. She is also an active member of her local Chamber of Commerce in the Sauganash neighborhood and graduated from the Illinois College of Optometry in 2016. So when it came time to open her own practice, she knew she wanted it to be in the heart of the community that has continued to support her.
While driving her kids to school last year, Dr. Glebiv passed a building for rent that had gone through a number of changes over the years. She recalls that it was a restaurant when she moved to the area, then an insurance agency and finally a COVID-19 testing facility during the pandemic.
“It needed some demolition but it had great bones,” Dr. Glebiv says. It’s also across the street from a Whole Foods and less than two blocks from her kids’ school. After four months of waiting for city permit approvals, Luminous Eyecare & Luxury Eyewear opened in November 2024 in Sauganash.
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The practice before and during construction
A COZY SPACE
Dr. Glebiv says the 1,400-square-foot space was awkwardly designed, with just three separate, sectioned-off rooms. Dr. Glebiv and her husband, Mike, demoed the space down to the studs and rerouted some electrical work. Then she worked with iCare Advisors and Karina K Designs to bring her vision for the practice to life.
Dr. Glebiv had a clear vision for the look and feel of her practice. She worked with her team to create a palette of tiered neutrals with pops of gold and muted green accents. The neon “be luminous” sign, incorporated into a green wall with a beverage bar, was the first installation that the rest of the design followed. She also requested that the team suspend custom frame boards from the ceiling by rope and lay the LVP flooring in an eye-catching chevron pattern.
The finished space includes two exam lanes, with one fully equipped and another for future growth. There is also a breakroom, contact lens room, pretest room, private office and back storage area. Being a corner unit, the office benefits from abundant west‑facing sunsets, which fills the space with natural light in the evenings.
Dr. Glebiv specifically chose the optical furniture to be cozier than usual, with finds from Wayfair and World Market. A custom table in the shape of eyeglasses in the optical was a gift from her previous boss, whose father made it decades ago. The custom front desk features paneling and a faux marble top.
The beverage bar—originally designed to be a photo wall sans refreshments—and faux living wall help create a homey waiting area. The spacious optical helps encourage patients to browse frames while they wait.
“In a perfect world, my home would look like this,” Dr. Glebiv says, reflecting the personal touches that make the space feel uniquely hers.
The exam lane is fully equipped using Vision Source pricing, including a Topcon package and an iCare EIDON retinal camera. Dr. Glebiv also edges lenses in-house herself.
A COMMUNITY CORNERSTONE
For Dr. Glebiv, the location and design of Luminous Eyecare are as important as the services she offers. The practice is roughly 10 minutes from her home, making the commute manageable even on a bad traffic day. She performs a large number of back to school eye exams, as the practice is just blocks from two schools. She is currently working with her children’s principle to implement school-wide vision screenings.
By opening a practice in her own backyard, Dr. Glebiv remains deeply connected to the community she has always called home.
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