Revival Vintage Eyewear, a retailer specializing in unworn vintage frames from the 1950s to early 2000s, operates at locations in San Diego’s North Park and in Bird Rock in La Jolla.
The La Jolla Light got in touch with Jenna Hanson, who co-founded the business with Jon Hershman, to find out more.
Q. How and when did the business begin?
A. Jon and I met while teaching English at San Diego State University. Both of us left SDSU by 2017 and lost for a few years.
When we left SDSU, Jon decided to pursue his vintage watch business full time (he started selling watches in 2014), and he would go to Japan and work with dealers to source vintage Japanese watches and watch parts.
While on a sourcing trip, one of Jon’s dealers asked if he also wanted to purchase unworn vintage glasses. He decided to get one pair of glasses for his wife. Lucky for everyone, it was not her style, so he decided to sell it. That one pair of glasses set this entire project in motion.
In 2019, I saw Jon posting pictures of glasses on his Instagram . I was intrigued and ed him about what he was doing. I thought it was really cool!
During the summer while off from teaching Spanish, I started to help him list glasses frames online. We sold glasses solely online until we decided to make the leap and open a full brick-and-mortar store [in North Park].
Since September 2021, we’ve become licensed opticians, built a full optical lab designed for same-day prescriptions and sunglasses, manufactured custom sunglasses lenses specifically for vintage frames, brought an optometrist into the business, have been nominated for and won multiple San Diego retail awards, and opened a second location in beautiful Bird Rock, La Jolla.
Q. What is your mission?
A. To provide iconic, high-quality eyewear that makes people feel empowered and joyful. It’s jewelry for the face.
Q. What services do you offer?
A. • A tailored eyewear shopping experience• Eye exams and lens fittings• Same-day prescription fills. Your frames never leave the store. We’ll build your prescription in our in-store optical lab.• 10-minute custom sunglasses. You pick the frame, then your favorite lens color and we’ll turn it into a sunglass in 10 minutes.• Re-lens your personal glasses with a sunglass or prescription in minutes.
Q. What makes Revival unique compared with similar businesses?
A. There are no other eyewear stores that offer our unique eyewear or the completeness of services found at Revival. All of our frames are vintage but unworn; they were manufactured between the 1950s and early 2000s but were never sold or worn at the time. They come from optical businesses that have closed or are the remaining stock from industry insiders like Ray Winston, the man behind Elton John’s most iconic frames in the 1970s.
We have also reimagined the eyewear shopping experience to include all of these services under one roof. This is unheard of. No longer do you have to wait weeks for prescription glasses or throw away your beloved frames when your prescription updates or sunglass lenses get scratched. Everything is personal to the customer’s needs and wants.
At Revival, we strive to empower customers to understand their prescription and which frames will suit their face, needs and lifestyle, and we don’t upsell.
Q. What’s new with the business that you want everyone to know about?
A. We’re super excited to announce the opening of our second location in Bird Rock. It is a dream come true to be part of the Bird Rock community.
We’d also like customers to know that we’re manufacturing five additional sunglass lens colors, including three flash mirror tints. Customers now have 25 lens colors to choose from when buying their next pair of sunglasses. And don’t forget, every frame is a one-of-a-kind piece, so you’ll always see something new when you shop in-store.
Q. How do you or your business connect to La Jolla?
A. We love Bird Rock. It’s a fantastic area of La Jolla with its small-town feel. After careful consideration of many locations, we decided to add our business to the flourishing Bird Rock community. We’re now a member of the Bird Rock Community Council and plan to become involved in as much as we can in the future.
Revival Vintage Eyewear’s Bird Rock location is at 5668 La Jolla Blvd. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. For more information, call (619) 634-8944 or visit revivaleyewear.com.
— Business Spotlight features enterprises that this publication. ◆
