Colorado Optical Eyewear Expressions, Inc.

401 N. Greenwood, Suite G

(Located one block East of the Pueblo Justice Plaza)

Pueblo, Colorado 81003-6101

719-546-3365 fax: 719-546-5383

Pueblo's oldest independently owned, quality eyewear business

Monday-Thursday 9-12, 1:30-5

Friday 9-1, After hours by appointment

We offer Wiley x and Transition 8 custom eyewear, with or without prescription lenses

We also offer a comlete line of safety glasses.

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Serving Pueblo and Southern Colorado well over 30 years

Complete, professional, "personalized" optical service

CHECK OUR PRICES FIRST

Don't pay much higher prices elsewhere

All Doctors Prescriptions Accepted

We specialize in repairs and hard to fit customers

We also take great pride in our work and offer the best quality frames and lenses

Quality Prescription Eye Glasses--Sunglasses, Contacts

 

We now stock and sell Charmant Line Art Titanium Rimless frames

 

How to care for your eyeglasses

We recommend the Transition and Transition 8 Lens, Please click here for information

The Hot Place for eyeglasses, replacement contacts and repair.

We also specialize in safety eyeglasses.

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by NICK BONHAM 
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Their love for their clients isn't blind.

Colorado Optical Eyewear Expressions, Inc., has specialized in eyeglasses, contacts, progressive lenses and repairs for 38 years.

Word-of-mouth advertising, reasonable prices, a loose work atmosphere and fondness for patrons has paid off for Rich Ikelman's small business.

Snuggled in a narrow strip mall at 401 N. Greenwood St., there's more to Ikelman's shop than meets the eye.

"It's Pueblo's best kept secret," said Ikelman's wife of 53 years, Mary, who along with their 42 year-old daughter, Jayme Ikelman, work part time at the shop. The full-time employees are the opticians, Ikelman and lab Manager Judy Lipitz.

Colorado Optical also fills any doctor's prescription.

Satisfying a steady stream of customers on a recent Friday, Ikelman and Lipitz are at their best with delightful conversation and surprising customers with their low repair costs.

"We try to keep prices reasonable. You don't have to come in here and take a number like a lot of places" Ikelman said, dressed in sandals, shorts and a black-and-purple bowling shirt buttoned down to reveal a gold necklace that matched his bracelet and gold-framed glasses.

Lipitz has worked for Ikelman for 28 years and goes by the name of "the glasses lady."

"I'm known for pulling glasses off people's faces because I can't stand crooked glasses," Lipitz said. "My favorite part of (her job) is putting glasses on a kid for the first time and they say ‘Wow!’ And they see leaves and blades of grass. It's like opening up a whole new world to them."

Ikelman's path to opticals began by answering a newspaper ad for Bausch & Lomb more than 50 years ago. He purchased the company's lab 38 years ago when it closed.

Ikelman and company have seen their fair share of odd repairs and mutilated glasses.

"My favorite was the guy who dropped his glasses in the barbecue when it was on," Ikelman said.

The memorable repair list also includes a rototilling accident, dog bites, and boating and industrial accidents.

"There's a lot of glasses at the bottom of Lake Pueblo," said Jayme Ikelman.

Good news is that Colorado Optical Eyewear Expressions, Inc. sells titanium bendable frames that miraculously bend back to normal after rough beatings.

"Metal with a memory," Ikelman calls them a great improvement in eyeglass materials.  

 

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