By Arnaud Aubry
Ever feel like Dr. No on a TV re-run of a bi-focaled scientist from outer-space? No harm in trying on a new look, but without changing your whole life. The place to let your imagination run wild is Jenny Ma’s nine-month-old store on Bedford Avenue. It’s a stylish place that caters to young professionals between 21 and 45.
“Most of our clients are artists, band players, tattoo artists,” says Ma. More or less, all of them live in the neighborhood. Ma explains the kind of clientele she has by the originality of her boutique. “A lot of ar-tists have a unique taste, and they come to Luxeye because we have a good selection of eyewear.” Luxeye even carries rare and hard to find vintage frames dating back 20 years.
Ma belongs to a family that owns seven shops in New York where glasses and optical articles are sold. “I’ve almost been born and raised in a glasses store,” she says. And so, after having been marketing manager for her family for several years, she took the plunge and opened her own shop.
“We have a good relationship with old suppliers—that’s why we can provide vintage frames that are not made anymore,” she says. It’s the case for Christian Dior, Rodnstock, or Carrera frames. Those “good relations” are established because she’s been in the business for so long. So has her family, since her uncle opened his first store in 1979 in Chinatown. The price range for her vintage frames are $99 and $169. A little bit less than the other boutiques in the neighborhood,” she says.
But Luxeye isn’t only about vintage. All kinds of customers can find their style among the 5,000 different frames. For the not-so-exotically inclined, the price range is between $59 and $400.
Not only Business
Ma’s special touch is creating a personal link with the customer. Luxeye is not only business, it’s friendship too, she says. And in search of even better service, she’s building a website which should be ready within a month. This site will be updated frequently so that glasses-aholics can check out the latest deals.
Before I leave her store, Ma wants to add a word: “The name of the store is pronoun-ced Lux-ee. Indeed, the word “lux” means light in Latin. “Luxeye means bringing light to your soul.”
Luxeye Optical
171 Bedford Avenue
(718) 599-7799
www.luxeyeoptical.com
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