“People like lightweight frames. They like them durable, and they like them stylish,” says owner Steven Bennett. That is the significance of the OVVO frames in the window of his new Bennett Optometry location in Traver Village. They are unfurled with a forty-pound weight hanging from one of the earpieces. He swears he could unhook them from their bondage and they’d be good as new, because there’s no hinge on the streamlined design made from some space-age metal. At the opposite pole, and equally stylish, people are liking “that retro look, with rivets holding the frames together.” See the handcrafted Oliver Peoples frames and think Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Though he can give an impromptu analysis of what’s hot in frame styles and why, Bennett is a doctor of optometry–like med school, it’s a four-year degree program. He did a residency at Walter Reed. He can prescribe. Generally, he says, the line between optometry and ophthamology is that optometrists don’t do surgery. Bennett does do cutting-edge contact lens research in the back rooms of the new office. One of the reasons he moved his north-side branch here from Green Rd. was his need for more lab space.

Bennett Optometry is the oldest optometry practice in town. Steven’s father, Herman, started the business in 1949, renting some space in a jewelry store where One North Main is now. Back then, optometrists and jewelers, both working with precision tools, were often found in conjunction. Now he’s one of only three or four “private optometry practices” left in town–he provides that nomenclature, wincing at the suggested descriptor “mom-and-pop shop.” The reason for the dwindling number of them is of course the incursion of big-box stores and franchise opticians. “I live in this town. I don’t want to name any names,” he laughs, politely declining to discuss places that sell Korean knock-offs or to name which of the franchise opticians have glasses with style but no durability, and which have durability but no style. Quality frames, he says, are expensive, but so is a good sandwich at Zingerman’s.

Bennett’s Main St. store, a building he owns, will remain open. He’s found a buyer for the moldy, unoccupied building whose smell was seeping into his clinic–Jon Carlson of 2Mission Design & Development (Grizzly Peak, Blue Tractor, Pretzel Bell, et al.). After a thorough cleaning and rehab, Carlson plans to turn it into retail and office space.

Bennett Optometry, 2623 Plymouth (Traver Village), 930-2373. Mon. & Thurs. 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Tues., Wed., & Fri. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Closed Sun. bennettoptometry.com