In CT theres a small chain of eyewear retailers called Kennedy & Perkins, and the last time I was there, they told me that incase they didn't stock a certain model, they could order any pair of Oakley sunnies that were in mass production.

A month later, I'm now wondering if they can only order sunglasses or any Oakley product (apparel, lanyards, shoes, etc). When I think about it, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't have the ability to do that; they probably just don't want to because its not their specialty.

So I'm kind of wondering what makes a dealer an OPD. Do they have to sell Oakley products and no other brands? Tomorrow I'm going to call them but I'd like to know what those on the O-Review think.

http://www.kennedy-perkins.com/

"Premium Dealers" have to have accounts of a certain monetary value. I'm not sure what the threshold is, but someone might. Most stores that only carry eyewear CAN order you any apparel you want if you have an SKU, but they might not have the SKU in their internal POS systems, so they might avoid it (my store would only do it for employees or "special" customers).

I think most can order anything if requested, but certain items (stretchline/blockline) can't arrive as inventory for display.

So what is the benefit for the dealer when he becomes an OPD? Just wondering

After the fallout with SGH in the late 90s (when OPDs were started), it was exclusives and the first to get new styles.

There are certain top level buy-ins now (that replace the OPD exclusives) for certain colorways. They also get the cool display stuff based on volume.