Our Family Business
The Story of Optique Moitzheim
Over 130 years of experience in the optician/optometrist profession
2019 - Today...
May 2019,
The Cloche d'Or shopping centre opens its doors to the public. On this occasion, Optique Moitzheim opens its new store in Gasperich to be closer to its customers.
2000 - 2019
In September 2004,
the store in rue Philippe II was moved to 32, rue du curé; major renovation work on rue Philippe II necessitated this temporary move. The store returned to 8 rue Philippe II in June 2006.
In November 2008, as part of the expansion of the City Concorde Shopping Centre, Optique Moitzheim is opening its new store on the ground floor of the new wing of the City Concorde.
In early 2009, Optique Moitzheim is once again demonstrating its desire to be at the forefront of progress by offering its customers the new i.Scription lenses from Zeiss.
In August 2009, Optique Moitzheim opens its new store at 44, av. J.F. Kennedy in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.
1988 - 2000
At the beginning of 1989,
the interior of the store in rue Philippe II was renovated. It was a great success... except from a technical point of view. A short circuit in the electrical installation caused a fire in the middle of the day on 29 August 1989. Within minutes, the entire shop and much of the merchandise went up in smoke.
In a remarkable show of strength, and with the exemplary support of all staff, a temporary solution was created in just a few days on the first floor of the building, with a tunnel running through the charred remains of the old shop to take customers from the street to the new premises.
After 4 difficult months, a new store opened its doors and it was back to business as usual.
In May 1995, a 3rd store opened at City Concorde.
In July 1997 Optique Moitzheim takes over the stores of a colleague who has also moved abroad. The Belair and Esch-sur-Alzette branches open.
1975 - 1988
In 1975,
Mr. Jacques Moitzheim joined his father's company after training as an optician and optometrist.
In the meantime, the optical sector had developed so rapidly that the shop had to be transformed once again. The entire surface area of the shop was refurbished to create a large optical shop with an assembly workshop and contact lens fitting institute. The shop in Rue Philippe II was renamed Optique Moitzheim.
All the major eyewear brands were represented, and new collections such as Alain Mikli and Giorgio Armani were presented exclusively for the Grand Duchy. The most modern measuring methods were used and the assembly workshop was state of the art.
The medical instruments and photography department moved to new premises on the Altmünster plateau, where it operated under the name Moitzheim Instrumed.
In May 1986 Optique Moitzheim takes over the commercial activities of a colleague who moves abroad and opens its 1st branch in Differdange.
1945 - 1975
After the 2nd World War,
Mr Nic Moitzheim's son, Mr Jeff Moitzheim, joined the company in 1946 and Mr Joseph Moitzheim retired from the business.
At the initiative of Mr Jeff Moitzheim, who saw a bright future for the optician's profession at an early stage, the shop on rue Philippe II was renovated for the first time in 1960, with a large part of the shop being reserved for opticians. The architect Robert Lentz was commissioned to redesign and equip the new shop, and his work was a masterpiece. Customers could sit down to choose their glasses, a real innovation in the world of spectacles.
It was also the time of the first organic lenses and, above all, the first multifocal lenses, the still famous Varilux, as well as the first attempts at contact lenses, then known as scleral lenses.
High technology was finally taking an interest in the visually impaired.
It also saw the arrival on the European market of the first collections of sunglasses, the still famous Ray-Ban, and the first frames bearing the labels of famous fashion designers, the Christian Dior collection being one of the very first.
Eyewear had just entered the world of fashion.
1930 - 1945
On April 27, 1933, Mr Joseph Moitzheim was able to buy the house at 8 rue Philippe II at an auction to set up his business and orthopaedic workshops.
The sale of this building caused quite a stir at the time. It was the first house in the city to sell for more than 1 million francs.
Ernst Leitz, a renowned manufacturer of optical microscopes and other measuring instruments for medicine and industry, is now the general representative for the Grand Duchy.
Throughout these decades, the sale of eyewear was of little importance to Jos. Moitzheim.
The profession of optician did not yet exist as we know it today. The only eyeglasses available were frames with lenses already mounted in the frame by the manufacturer, much in the style of today's ready-made " reading glasses" found in every supermarket or gas station.
The manufacturers of these spectacles were often the same as those of medical equipment, which explains why spectacles were very often sold in shops selling this type of article.
Gradually, however, optics became more important. Spectacles were no longer sold off the peg, but made to measure according to the prescriptions of ophthalmologists. The first eyewear workshop in the Grand Duchy was set up by Joseph Moitzheim in rue Philippe II at the end of the 1930s. Wearers already had a choice of models, and a distinction was made between men's and women's frames.
1892 - 1930
On November 18, 1892,
Mr Joseph Moitzheim placed an advertisement in the 'Letzebuerger Zeitung' informing readers that he was taking over the Oberhoffer cutlery shop at 1, avenue de l'Arsenal in Luxembourg.
With solid experience gained in a specialist firm in Strasbourg, Mr Joseph Moitzheim's business activity consisted of selling medical equipment and cutlery, as well as running an orthopaedic workshop.
Two years later, he moved his store to 18, Grand Rue.
Moitzheim expanded rapidly and its customers included prestigious hospitals such as those attached to the medical faculties of Nancy and Liège, where a branch was set up. A workshop for the manufacture of surgical instruments was also set up in Hollerich, rue de l'Industrie, employing around thirty people at any one time.
Mr Joseph Moitzheim bought a house at 45 Grand Rue, close to the Roude Petz, the real commercial centre of the city at the time.
In 1927,
Mr Nic Moitzheim joins the family business to assist his father.