For thousands of Tristate customers who have left glasses or contacts inside an EyeWorld Optical Co. store that closed last month, relief is on the way.

        Expect one store in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton to open soon to return prescriptions and money.

        Both items were stuck inside the 29 EyeWorld Optical stores when they closed suddenly in mid-September, and the company filed for bankruptcy several days later.

        Mark Greenberger, Chapter 7 trustee for the company, has asked federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Jeffery Hopkins to reopen the stores for a Friday and Saturday.

        He estimated about 2,000 customers have products inside the stores that they have been unable to retrieve.

        Doctors at the stores, who operated as independent contractors, also can retrieve their medical records.

        Counting preparation, employees, security and other costs, the reopening would run about $6,700, and Fifth Third Bank has agreed to front that money.

        “We all want this to happen very quickly,” said Ronald Gold, EyeWorld Optical's bankruptcy lawyer.

        Mr. Greenberger said he has an offer from Thoma & Sutton to buy several locations, and there are other offers to buy equipment and customer lists.

        But so far, there is no offer to purchase the entire company.

        Once Judge Hopkins approves the sale, it could take a couple of weeks to get it set up, Mr. Greenberger said.        

4 Bennigan's to be sold

        Speaking of bankruptcy, four area Bennigan's restaurants should stay open, but will be sold to an Illinois restaurant operator by their bankrupt owner, SDG Restaurants Inc.

        SDG is franchisee for the restaurants in Blue Ash, Dayton, Springfield and Deerfield Township.

        SDG filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. The proposed $200,000 sale proceeds will go to Provident Bank, which is owed more than four times that amount, said Tom Coffey of Cors & Bassett, the company's attorney.

        Unsecured creditors, it appears, will get nothing.        

Greeting card plus CD

        Talk about finding a new niche.

        A husband-and-wife team has expanded from a Springdale temporary personnel agency into a new area: selling greeting cards with music compact disks in them.

        Already on sale at Joseph-Beth Booksellers and through an Internet site (www.cardpluscd.com), the products cost only about $2.50 per to produce.

        The couple, Jean Peters and Tom Laskey, have sold about 5,000 so far, including 1,000 to a division of Western-Southern Life Insurance Co. that wanted to put them in apartments as greetings.

        Ms. Peters founded JMPeters Inc. in 1984. Card+CD was born last fall out of the musical talents of Mr. Laskey, a graduate of the College-Conservatory of Music.

        If you have a tip about Greater Cincinnati companies, e-mail Cliff Peale at cpeale@enquirer.com or call 768-8573.
       

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