Meet Jon Hershman | Co-Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jon Hershman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jon, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Most glasses and sunglasses made today are very low quality, manufactured for our disposable modern world. Before the early 2000s, there were hundreds or thousands of glasses manufacturers. With industry consolidation and control of the eyewear market handed to Luxottica and a few others, quality, craftsmanship, and artistry has been lost. Vintage frames were rich with detail, exquisite design, and craftsmanship that was painstaking and labor intensive. Now, most frames, even the expensive ones from your favorite fashion houses are made of injection-molded plastic, which becomes brittle, is very difficult to adjust, and doesn’t last more than a few years. Real zyl or acetate frames are all made by hand, formed from a single block, only coming to life with hours of heating, filing, polishing, and manipulating until its final form is fully realized. This is why we sell vintage products. We believe in putting out name behind a product that is meant to last.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Revival Vintage Eyewear is the most unique eyewear store in San Diego. We offer a full-service experience starting with our distinct frame selection of one-of-a-kind, unworn, vintage glasses from the 1950s to the early 2000s all manufactured in Japan, Germany, France and Austria. We pair those very unique frames with an in-store lab that can process custom, non-prescription sunglass lenses in five minutes or a single vision prescription lens in about 30 minutes. Every frame in the store includes a sunglass lens (a customer can choose from over 20 tints) OR we can re-lens a customer’s frame for a nominal cost. We pride ourselves on creating an unforgettable experience that you literally cannot find anywhere else.

This is what Revival has evolved into since its inception in 2021. It took a lot of time and effort to get it to the point it is today. Our story really starts, though, in 2015 when Jenna and I met teaching at SDSU. We both left SDSU by 2017 and lost contact for a few years. When we left SDSU, I decided to pursue a vintage watch business full-time (I started selling watches in 2014) where I would go to Japan and work with dealers to source vintage Japanese watches and watch parts. While on a sourcing trip, one of my dealers asked if I also wanted to purchase unworn vintage glasses. I decided to get one pair of glasses for my wife. Lucky for everyone, it was not her style, so I decided to sell it. That one pair of glasses set this entire project in motion. In 2019, Jenna saw me posting pictures of glasses on his instagram. She was intrigued and contacted me about what I was doing. She thought it was really cool! During the summer while off from teaching Spanish, she started to help me list glasses frames online. Together, we sold glasses solely online until we decided to take the leap and open a full brick-and-mortar store. During that time, Jenna and I decided to partner together and create Revival Vintage Eyewear. 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 and won multiple San Diego retail awards, including the latest, San Diego Reader’s best eyewear boutique and opened a second location in beautiful Bird Rock, La Jolla.

Getting Revival to where it is today, required two teachers to do a complete 180 and learn an entirely new field. Jenna and I studied, worked with a master optician and learned an incredible amount of new information. The word “easy” did not exist in starting this business, especially a business that we knew very little about. There were and are challenges every day, possibly every hour! We work together with our incredible colleagues to solve problems, create innovative solutions and keep moving forward. The one thing we have learned is that there is always something to do and ALWAYS something to learn; owning a business means nothing is ever done. There are always ways to improve, create more revenue and grow. This is the fun of it. The minute you stay stagnant, is the minute your business fails. We have created an incredibly unique business that continues to evolve and change.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh, wow! That is fun! Well, we are very partial to our beautiful North Park and Bird Rock communities! Here are a few places that we would recommend in and around those areas!

Great Neighborhoods: South Park, North Park (of course), Bird Rock, Normal Heights, Barrio Logan, Golden Hill, University Heights, Convoy

Restaurants: Mabels Gone Fishing, The Rose, Wayfarer Bakery, Boujimana, Juan Jaspers, Ciccia Osteria, Red Fox Room, Turf Supper Club, Muzita Abyssinian Bistro, Carbon (Angela’s kitchen)

Activities: Kayak in La Jolla cove, hike one of the peaks in the beautiful Mission Trails Regional Park, take a stroll in Balboa Park and try to catch a show at the Old Globe theater, do an urban hike through all 7 bridges near Balboa Park, get a day pass for the Lafayette pool, head to Cabrillo National Monument and hike to the tide pools

Great Drinks and Cocktails: Border X Brewery, Bali Hi, Mabels Gone Fishing, the Lion’s Share, The Office, Swan Bar, Aero Club, The Starlight Lounge

Shopping and Retail: Our stores, obviously! Get a taxidermied, stripper mouse at Gold Dust Collective, a vintage outfit at Day to Day, La Loupe, Mila, or Hunt and Gather or any retail shop on Ray Street in North Park; They are all good!

There are too many to mention! These are just a few.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are too many to name, but we will try. We wouldn’t be here without either of our extremely supportive families, friends, colleagues and mentors. They have encouraged us, listened to us, and most importantly, have put in hours of time helping to make both of our stores a success. Our families have been there during the good and the bad. Our colleagues have brought so much knowledge, love and care to our beloved business, and our mentor has taught us all that we know about the optical industry. And lastly, our friends who have come to every party and shared every Instagram story. I know there are a ton more, so apologies to anyone I forgot. We are so lucky.

Website: https://www.revivaleyewear.com

Instagram: @revival_eyewear

Image Credits
Jenna Davis
Claudia Bottcher
Katie Holtshouser
KH Film Photography and Videography, LLC
Gail Cohn