Archie Brower
OUR SHOP
SPECTACLES OF UNION SQUARE, SAN FRANCISCO
Spectacles, located on San Francisco’s historic Maiden Lane since 1972, has always been more concerned with precision and accuracy than the latest fads and gimmicks. Three generations ago, in 1932, the owners family opened their first wholesale lab in Detroit. Sisters Isabel and Rae were two of the first females in the optical industry. The family has continued to run prescription labs and manufacture eyeglass frames ever since. Owner Kevin Hershey studied under master optician Horst Goos until he took over the lab in 1996. For over 70 years their main concern has always been quality over quantity.
Spectacles in-house lab specializes in custom rimless mountings and uses tried and true products such as Varilux and Carl Zeiss lenses. At Spectacles you can find everything from Cartier to unused vintage eyewear.
SPECTACLES IN-HOUSE PRESCRIPTION LAB
"I am fortunate to have been trained by an old European optician and lab man. Horst had come out of the lab to eventually own his store as have I. He taught me all he knew about making prescription lenses on outdated antiquated equipment – I had to master the trade and learn to manually perform tasks that one would never need to know when using modern equipment. In our industry, lens technology has become so over marketed that we lose sight of the fact that ultimately a human still has to take measurements and in most cases, a completely different human has to process that information accurately.
At Spectacles of Union Square it is all done in-house. We’ve been making prescription glasses under this very same roof for almost 50 years. I’ve been hanging around Maiden Lane for over 20 years and have always been known as San Francisco’s Prescription Eyewear destination. I am honored to be able to keep these family owned traditions alive and sell quality brands – and more importantly, make a pair of glasses the right way. I am in my element when I am knocking out a stack of jobs, repairing an old frame, and helping someone see better…all at the same time!"
– Kevin Hershey, Owner