The Fellers not only enjoy spending time together, they make a living doing it.

Son Michael, dad Eli, mom Helen and dog Spot spend their days at the family-run optical store Everything in Sight at 5800 Greenville next to the Old Town Shopping Center.

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The store provides a range of eye-care services and has a fully equipped laboratory.

Michael, 39, sells and buys eyeware, and Helen keeps the books, Eli says.

“I just hang out and make sandwiches,” Eli says. “We have a kitchen in the back.”

According to Michael, however, his father does more than spread mayonnaise.

Eli found the location for the store, which took a year and a half of searching, Michael says, and he helps with the paperwork.

Then there is Spot – the welcoming committee. The friendly black Labrador carries her bone around and offers it to customers.

“She’s the only lab who actually works in a laboratory,” Eli jokes.

Although it sounds like a business handed down through the family for generations, Everything in Sight is only four years old.

Since the store opened, the Fellers have become involved in the community by donating money and eyeware to underprivileged children.

They support the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children; the Crystal Charity Ball, an annual event that provides funds to children’s charities in Dallas; and they send 25 children each year to the Shrine Circus.

Michael also volunteered to send glasses to needy children in Uganda when a former customer went there as a member of the Peace Corps. So far, the store has sent about a dozen pairs of glasses to the country, Eli says.

Michael became an optician to help people, he says. He made the decision to go to opticianry school seven years ago after serving as a medic in the army.

“I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny,” he says. “I wanted to work with my hands and do something medically oriented.”

Like son, like father – Eli decided to attend opticianry school once Michael started.

“My dad saw my enthusiasm, followed me to school one day and stayed,” Michael says.

The two men now pride themselves on being different than other eye-care specialists.

“The optical business has become very retail oriented,” Michael says. “Yes, we sell our products to make money, but we also help people. Your glasses are the first thing people see. They don’t look down at your $100 pair of shoes.”