The Salem Vision Group is a division of Salem Distributing Company, Inc., a 70 year old, international, employee owned company with sales in 39 foreign countries. A support staff of 56 is housed in the Corporate office located in a 50,000-square-foot facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and 23 field sales people are strategically located throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Warehouses are maintained in Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Toronto, Canada and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Salem Distributing Company successfully serves four distinct industries: Architectural Glass, Architectural Stone, Precision Electro-Optical and Ophthalmic. All of these diverse industries share the common theme of producing a specified surface condition. From brilliant beveled mirrors to critical surface preparation of gallium arsenide semiconductor material to pristine finishes of high-index ophthalmic lenses, Salem is uniquely capable of supplying the materials and technical expertise to accomplish these goals. This complex relationship of industries, materials and applications has served to build a vast wealth of product and process knowledge unique to a single company.

Salem entered into the Ophthalmic Industry in approximately 1972 as a regional supplier of a re-usable glass lens polishing pad. The technology utilized to produce this polishing material was the precursor to processes employed today in manufacturing state-of-the-art polishing materials. It was this type of forward thinking that led Salem from this modest beginnings to a major supplier of a complete line of innovative surfacing and polishing materials manufactured in the U.K. by another progressive company, Cerium Optical Products.


Salem has continually set the standard for meeting the industry’s demand for cost-effective, high-quality, innovative machinery and supplies. It also believes that it is not just about supplies and machinery. It’s about service. It’s about value. It’s about earning confidence and building partnerships. This is the reputation Salem has earned and is committed to re-earning it every day.