The founder of Cohen’s Fashion Optical, Jack Cohen, started his journey from humble beginnings selling eyeglasses from a pushcart amongst New York City’s famed Orchard Street Merchants in 1927.

Jack had the unique gift of engaging with his customers while providing them with handcrafted eyeglasses at a fair price. Business boomed and the Cohen family outgrew the pushcart operation and established the original Cohen’s Optical retail store located on Orchard Street.

Jack believed that there was more to eyeglasses than its’ function of vision correction. The Cohen’s family had the foresight to hand-dye frames in vibrant colors and became the first to offer a collection of fashion eyewear in New York City. Cohen’s prospered and moved to its current location at the corner of Orchard & Delancey Street and changed its name to Cohen’s Fashion Optical.

The Cohen’s name became synonymous with offering the latest fashion frames at the best prices and moved to its current location at the corner of Orchard & Delancey Streets. “Fashion” was added to the Cohen’s Optical marque and fashion became the anchor of the core business name and model. Jack Cohen provided his local community with fashion-forward eyeglasses and helped his clientele to see and look better. 

On March 3, 2008, Houchens Industries completed its acquisition of Cohen’s with hopes of expanding the regional optical retail chain into a national chain. The current president, Robert Cohen remained as president of the Cohen’s division within Houchens. Today, they carry the mission forward by providing hundreds of communities with state-of-the-art eye exams, caring staff and on-trend fashion eyewear. Committed to Jack Cohen’s vision, Cohen’s Fashion Optical continues to evolve and operates 100+ stores in seven US states & Puerto Rico and is ranked as one of the top eyewear retailers in the country.