After 34 years, locally owned Fashion Eyes is closing next month in downtown Santa Barbara

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A longtime locally owned sunglasses and souvenir shop in Santa Barbara is closing next month.

Fashion Eyes opened in 1988.

Owners Victor and Lucy Chang are selling up to 40% of their stake now.

The site in the 700 block of State Street should be vacant by the end of September. It is located right in front of the Paseo Nuevo shopping center.

The store has been loaded with high-end, premium, and affordable sunglasses, along with postcards, t-shirts, and collectibles.

Buyer Rafael Carrillo said: “We’ve been coming here all our lives. Especially for rescue and the many sports we like. It’s important that we have good sunglasses.”

For Fashion Eyes owner Lucy Chang and her husband Victor, there has been constant competition from other nearby stores and online retailers. . “The prices we’re selling now are better than online,” she said.

There is also a personal touch.

Victor Chang said: “Everything on the wall, I checked. Every pair before we put it on the shelf. We make sure they are straight and even and beautiful. They will fit most people. I am very good at adapting to do of course. Taught myself.”

Lucy Chang said: “(when) you buy a pair of sunglasses and no one helps you, you probably have a crooked frame forever without knowing it.”

Shiela Diano found a customer pair that fit just right and said, Customer “I ride my bike to work every day. They fit really snug.”

The retirement sale will run until September, with prices 40 to 80 percent off. Many customers will have a final farewell and a final look at this family business with service that is hard to find these days.

Carrillo said, “A couple of times we’ll lose a nose piece or not and we go in and half the time he just gives it to us. He’s really kind.”

Lucy Chang said, local customers, “they are like friends to us. Not just customers.”

The downtown area has been challenged for years, and many efforts are underway to revitalize the heart of the Santa Barbara shopping district, along with the newly created St.

For the Changs, it was time to retire, not move.

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