Business

Allied Optical Plan getting set to close after 55 years downtown

The Steiner clan in the 1990s. (From left) Jay, Sol, Jerry and Andrew.
The Steiner clan in the 1990s. (From left) Jay, Sol, Jerry and Andrew.

Mr. Steiner said he doesn’t know what’s in store for him moving forward. He’s spent a lot of his time in recent years at his second home in Maine, but he’s not the only one with a say in the matter.

He met his wife at Club Marakesh in Westhampton Beach in the late 1970s. Kathy said Jerry taught her how to dance that night and “that was it.”

They were married in 1980 and moved to Shoreham, where they raised two children. Their older son, Andrew, 32, runs a restaurant on the Jersey Shore. He never had any interest in the family business and instead spent his formative years working at Phil’s in Wading River before going into that industry himself.

The couple’s younger son, Jay, was diagnosed as an infant with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that disturbs cell growth in the nervous system, causing tumors to form on nerve tissue. By age 13, his tumors became aggressive. He died in 2007 at the age of 22.

“That knocks the wind out of your sails,” Mr. Steiner said. “It reframes your life. What’s important to you changes. Money means nothing.”

The Steiners had their “batteries recharged” in 2012 with the birth of their grandson, Jax. After the store closes, Kathy wants to move to New Jersey — a state Jerry refers to as “the armpit of the East Coast” — to be closer to their son and grandson.

Wherever they end up, the people who do shop regularly at Allied Optical Plan will miss their favorite optician and resident funnyman.

Many of the customers he’s maintained are folks like Ms. Aldrich, who have only known Allied Optical Plan, and customers from the Hamptons who get a better price through him than they would from their local boutiques.

The second set of customers to walk into Allied Optical Plan Tuesday morning were Jim and Cathy Watters of Calverton. They represent the third type of customer who’s remained loyal to the downtown store. They’re transplants from Nassau County who were referred to Mr. Steiner by an area optometrist. Then they fell in love with his personality.

“Any news on the sale?” Ms. Watters asked as she walked in.

“Signed the contract yesterday,” Mr. Steiner responded.

At first the couple was happy for him. Then Mr. Watters, a retired cop, looked down and mumbled softly.

“It’s actually kind of sad,” he said.

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