Jenkintown Community Alliance » Blog Archive

Brew Fest 2005 »

Wilson & Sheldon

Helping Folks See Clearly for Fifty Years

For those of you who don’t recall, 1955 was a very eventful year. That was the year Elvis Presley made his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, Ray Kroc launched McDonald’s restaurants in Illinois and Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus. Needless to say, things have changed. But since 1955 there’s one thing that hasn’t changed – the presence of Wilson & Sheldon opticians in Jenkintown.

Wilson & Sheldon, originally located at 303 York Road (home of Laura’s Nails), was opened in 1955 by center city optometrist Dr. Falkenstein. Current owner Carl Jacobsen, ABOC, took over in 1978 and moved the store to the corner of Leedom and West Avenues in the mid-eighties. After 27 years at that location, Jacobsen moved the busi- ness to 715 West Avenue just this year.

The new store is accessible and brings in foot traffic from the restaurants just across the street. Customers feel like they’re visiting a bright, modern gallery with glasses and frames artfully displayed in cases and on counters. But the most important reason customers come back to Wilson & Sheldon is service. As a one-person operation, Jacobsen provides the personal attention so lacking in chain stores. His customers appreciate that every time they come in, their prescription is filled and their lenses fabricated by the same person.

In fact, Jacobsen has quite a following of customers who come to him from all over – Delaware County, Center City and Florida. There may even be a few who have been getting their glasses at Wilson & Sheldon since it first opened in 1955, the same year that President Eisenhower raised the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1.00.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 19th, 2005 at 1:04 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.