A New Way of Looking at Things (with New Pair of Glasses, that is)
I can’t remember the first time I walked in the little optical shop on Broadway near Belmont.
I had popped into the eye glass place across the street but they didn’t have what I wanted. But with unrequested kindness and unexpected candor the clerk nodded to the shop across the way and said I might find it there. So I walked for the first time in “New Days Optical” and met John Hwang.
The first thing I noticed was a laminated article from the Chicago Sun-Times praising the shop and proprietor. Then I looked around and saw what seemed to be thousands of pairs of glasses and hundreds of sun glass frames. Ranging from the latest and greatest to old school, I was impressed by the selection. But what really impressed me was yet to be revealed.
“New Days Optical” is a one man show. And the hallmark of Mr. Hwang’s East Lakeview business is his attention to the customer (and his unbeatable prices). If you arrive while he is assisting another client, he will nod to you and return to the client in front of him until that encounter is completed. While this might demand a bit more patience that some are willing to expend, the result when you do is unparalleled service, attention to detail and a bit of what I will call old-fashioned mysticism.
Huh?
It’s true. After the frames you order arrive back at Mr. Hwang’s shop and he crafts the lenses you return to sit in front of him and he fits the glasses to conform to your face. It’s unlike anything I have ever experienced as he places the frame upon your face, gazes at how it sits, inhales deeply, removes it and gently but firmly urges it to the shape that best suits you.
Honestly, when I am sitting there while he is fitting my glasses I think of the solemn concentration of Kwai Chang Caine from the old show “Kung Fu” as he readied himself to lift the boiling cauldron with the fleshy inner part of his forearms. And just as the tv character exercised mind over matter to accomplish his feat, so too does Mr. Hwang as he perfectly adjusts his extraordinarily well-crafted glasses upon the bridge of my nose.
At the end of the session you exit “New Days Optical” with a stylish pair of new glasses, a rejuvenated vision, and a vow that you will spread the word about Mr. Hwang to other folks who wear glasses.
In the meantime later this morning I will be just down the street from Mr. Hwang’s shop for a second showing at my listing at 726 W Addison. The couple is looking for an in-town condo (they live in Long Grove). Also considering this large and pretty condo is a nice young woman who lives a block away. She returned to see it last week for a second time with her parents who had journeyed up from St. Louis to help their daughter with purchase number one.
Then I head to my East Village listing at 1934 W Thomas, a recently finished new construction luxury condo with two beds, two baths, and the rare (for a condo) two parking spaces.
I finish the work day with a showing at a gorgeous new construction single family home at 2214 W Cullom in Chicago’s Lincoln Square or Northcenter neighborhood. This is where I will be tomorrow for an open house from noon until 2pm, so feel free to swing by and introduce yourself while taking in one of the prettiest new constructions single families on the market.
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