Kate McShane: Thank you.
Operator: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Simeon Gutman: Hey, everyone. Reade, I have a quick question on the optometric or the optometrist market, and then one on prices. You mentioned that it’s a tough market. Is that because like people, like consumers can’t get appointments, because just — there is a shortage? Or is it because that in your segment, there’s a lot of square footage growth and there’s more of a chase to hire, as opposed to being like a national shortage where we’re just underserved where demand is greater than the supply?
Reade Fahs: Simeon, good morning. There is a national shortage of optometrists. So, what happened during the pandemic year was many more retired than normally would have. And again, we’re seeing this — what we’re talking about here is the same for lots of different types of healthcare workers. So, this was part of a broad healthcare trend. So, there were more retirements. And then, those that, that continued to practice, there was, I think, it’s called a great rethink, where they said, “You know, I’ve been practicing for five days, but really maybe four, maybe three days, and I’ll cut back on the number of days that people are retiring. So, what it means is that the number of exams out there in America in any given week is less than it was.
The schools do not graduate any higher number of students. So, flat number of students coming in and less doctors practicing, and then less days per doctor. And this is something that is discussed throughout the industry at all levels.
Simeon Gutman: Great. And then, the follow-up is on the pricing. You made a change during the COVID timeframe, out of necessity and pragmatism. Have you debated this again? I know you have a competitive set that there is an opening price point and it is part of that value orientation. But is the pricing structure something that you hope changes or you just can’t move at this point given where you compete?
Reade Fahs: We are constantly watching to make sure that there is a nice moat between us and our competition in terms of price, so it’s something that we pay a lot of attention to. We are firmly a value player. We also believe that our willingness to pull a price lever is far less than most other groups in the category overall. We do have opportunities around peripheral pricing, especially as it relates to glasses, less so around contact lenses, very transparent, very commoditized products. So that is not one where we’d like to — where we pull the pricing lever much. But — so there is still opportunity there and still able to keep our moat and we watch this very judiciously and make decisions here and there about various aspects of the products we offer.
Simeon Gutman: Okay. Thanks, Reade. Good luck in ’23.
Reade Fahs: Thank you. We’ll continue to be doing that on an ongoing basis going forward.
Operator: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Taji Phillips with Jefferies. Your line is open.
Taji Phillips: Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. So first, I have a question on just adjusted comparable store sales growth this year. The midpoint suggests 1.5% growth, and I’m just curious what is informing this improved outlook relative to last year’s negative growth? Is it a matter of easy comps, or are we actually seeing that positive flow through just with the improved macro environment? And then after I have one follow-up.
