Over 80 years ago Cohen’s Optical opened its doors to offer people on the Lower East Side frames at low prices. Today, Cohen’s Fashion Optical has more than 100 stores in the northeast and the business is still family owned and operated.

The Cohen’s story began with Jack Cohen, a native New Yorker who lived on the Lower East Side and operated a push cart at the corner of Orchard and Delancey. With the help of his sister Faye, Jack sold soap, dish towels and glasses from his pushcart. In those days, according to Art Siegal, Vice President of Advertising & Marketing and a family descendant, glasses were magnifiers with frames made of a plastic-like substance, not the prescription lenses we know today. Over time the eyeglasses were such a hit among neighborhood customers that eventually Cohen began selling eyeglasses only from his pushcart.

During his days peddling merchandise Cohen found himself dining at Ratner’s Dairy Restaurant – the famed kosher eatery that closed last year – regularly. In those days getting a meal for five cents was the norm and for Jack one date was the beginning of an everlasting relationship with his future wife. As fate would have it, Cohen’s pushcart business was flourishing at the same time a space became available for a shop on the corner of Orchard and Delancey. Cohen loved that corner so he seized the opportunity.

Around the 1920’s Cohen opened his store and began selling clear framed eyeglasses but that wasn’t enough, he wanted to take things further. Cohen experimented with dyes in his bathtub and developed a way to transform frames into an assortment of colors. Now customers had a choice of quality frames and a chance to consult with a licensed optometrist. As Art recalls Cohen’s Optical was the first to offer both physicians and products in the same space.

While business was important to Jack, so was family and in the 1960’s he realized he could combine the two. As a father Cohen was determined that his three boys become optometrists as he thought the future of eyewear would be combining doctors and fashionable eyewear. Thankfully his hunch was right and Cohen’s opened new stores with his boys entering the family business. The company changed its name to Cohen’s Fashion Optical because it supplies trendy and traditional frames by designers such as Ray-Ban, Gucci, Calvin Klein and Prada.

To date Cohen’s Fashion Optical is still a business that is run and owned by the family. Art Siegal said, “[The family] is still very hands-on. It’s not just a name – we pride ourselves on delivering designer frames at affordable prices and our customer service is great.” The fact that Cohen’s Fashion Optical has been around for generations speaks volumes, but you can stop in to visit and see for yourself.