Today, five companies make close to 90 percent of the lenses, a handful of optical chains sell half of them, and multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns are the rule for both.

"We are the fourth-largest optical chain," Mr. Casabona said yesterday.

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.

Sterling Optical is a franchised retail optical chain headquartered in New York, New York.

Takeovers of retail optical chains have been increasing lately.

In another case, an optical chain rented a former camera store and did a major interior rehabilitation but decided to forgo the facade change rather than disrupt its business for so long.

U.S. Vision, a small optical chain, sends flowers to all employees on their birthdays.

An Italian eyewear maker offered $1.12 billion for U.S. Shoe, the parent of Lenscrafters, the largest American optical chain.

The optical chains do get more volume, and with those markups, they have attracted Luxottica, the large Italian eyeglass frame maker.

The company is seen as the market leader in Germany and largest optical chain in Europe.