RetroSpecs & Co

Fascinating store in formerly up and coming, now just about over the top, Hayes Valley. This is not the usual eyewear store. It carries either «vintage» frames (hence the name Retrospecs) or new frames by one maker (who happens to own the store, but is sold by many select opticians – I was 250 in the US and abroad). The vintage frames have been refurbished, look new and some marques are sought after. The new frames are unusual because they can be custom tweaked (at least in titanium, not sure about the buffalo horn) to fit the customer’s face or preferences.
The store has a concrete floor; minimal functional furnishings and an unusual, yet appropriate, separation between sales area and back of house comprised of floor to celing glazed compartments filled with thousands of discarded eyeglass frames – can this décor notion be adapted for most people’s clutter? The discarded frames are part of the trove of used frames this store buys each year in order to find the several dozen it refurbishes and sells. Complementing the décor is classy, distinctive visual merchandising – very few eyeglass frames are on display and they are punctuated by industrial looking optical equipment or actual raw materials used in making the store’s own line of eyewear.
Service is superb – is it a family run shop? I was so impressed by the attention lavished on me (let’s try something different, not that, but how about this or this, no, you need something between that and that size, but perhaps…) and the care in finding the right frames for my difficult to fit face (your bridge does this so the frames need to do that, let’s try another size, your eyes must be centered, let’s try different finishes, no, now that you are wearing this another frame might work better…) that I bought two pairs – one vintage of a type that I have always wanted but could never fit into and one new that will be custom sized and tweaked in Los Angeles, where that is done, for my head.
It’s worth dropping by for a look, but make sure you chat with the staff. They are so informative. They are eyewear enthusiasts – not just designers, shapes and materials, but history of marques and what distinguishes them.