Our Story

1974

A businessman from NY, Robert Granoff, needed glasses for reading. He did the logical thing and went to a prescription optical store and bought a pair of glasses. At the time, New York state didn’t allow eyewear to be sold outside of an optical store, so he had never seen racks of reading glasses. Months later, on a business trip to the Midwest, Robert forgot his glasses on his way to a meeting. The taxi driver took him to a drug store to pick up a new pair of glasses there. Tickled by the ease and economy of the ready-made reading glasses, he stocked up whenever he went out of state.

1976

In 1976, Robert moved to Dallas with his wife and family and entered the hotel business. He always paused whenever he passed a rack of reading glasses in one of the drug stores. He mused over the idea of being able to get reading glasses that were attractive, but didn’t cost several hundred dollars.

1986

Robert’s son, Peter, had just moved back to Dallas and was thinking about starting a business. Robert shared his idea for a store that specialized in just reading glasses, Peter researched the market, liked what he saw, and in 1986 the two opened their first store on Lover’s Lane in Dallas, TX.

1996

Peter saw the retail opportunity of the Internet fairly early and had purchased the URL, ReadingGlasses.com, in 1996. By 2000 the online store made its debut.

Embracing Technology

Looking to broaden their offering, the duo started traveling to industry optical shows and factories in Europe and Asia, where they struck up relationships with manufacturers.

2000

The company adds ecommerce, launching ReadingGlasses.com. They knew that offering a large array of designer reading glasses was just the beginning. That the real challenge, and the thing that would most determine success, would be how well the company would be able to translate the easy shopping experience and beloved customer service from the retail stores to the digital world.

2000-2018

As business increased and the concept proved itself the two made plans to expand. Soon they had stores in and around the Dallas metroplex, as well as in Houston, New Orleans and Tulsa.

2019

Today, the company enjoys success in both the brick-and-mortar and digital worlds. The website has been tweaked and reinvented time and again, resulting in an exemplary, state-of-the-art user experience.