Fortune Magazine & Yahoo! Finance | ...luxury eyewear that's become a Hollywood favorite

Key article highlights include:

• “‘Growing up in the business, I fell in love with the business,’ Feldman told Fortune. ‘I love eyewear and optical, I think it's an amazing, multifaceted business that is just very rewarding. And I also saw a much bigger vision and picture. I thought ‘this doesn’t have to be a mom and pop shop, but this can be a real company, with stores across the country and a brand we distribute nationally.’ And we are working on going international soon. So I saw a different vision that I think that at that time, they didn't see.’”
• “In Feldman’s point of view, Alexander Daas glasses have the transformative power of improving a client’s entire identity. The same way that the only accessory that separated Clark Kent from being Superman was a pair of glasses, Feldman believes that the right pair of frames can help a client cement how they’d like to be seen in the world, and aid them in seeing the world better themselves.’”
• “‘I’m not selling anything,’ Feldman told Fortune. ‘I’m helping people. In the stores we provide a service to somebody coming in, they need glasses, and we're just guiding them and helping them find something that's going to look fantastic on them. It's gonna make them have more confidence, but then also improve their vision, which is going to help them medically, so there's no fail there. It really does change people's lives.”
• “With Alexander Daas, Feldman created a business that was full service and gave optimal consideration to the customer. In his brick and mortar retail locations he ensured that patrons could get on-site eye exams from an independent optometrist. From there, Feldman’s staff orders the appropriate lenses from top manufacturers and then does the finishing work on site, so each individual job gets the ‘right TLC,’ from a very highly skilled optical technician.”
• “Beyond convenient access to prescriptions and hand-finished lenses, Feldman also placed an emphasis on style and aesthetics, and created an industry-wide reputation for attentive style consultations that factored in lifestyle, prescription, and even the petiteness of a client’s face shape.”
• “Feldman has a particular soft spot for the struggles of the homeless and has historically been heavily involved in philanthropic organizations like Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco. During Project Homeless Connect’s quarterly events at the Civic Center, Feldman would congregate with many other types of vendors like barbers and dentists and offer free services.”