Mark Plessinger of Frame of Mind
Star Profile
Story and Photo by John Temple Ligon

Mark Plessinger

A new shop selling glasses frames, Frame of Mind, opened recently at 1520 Main Street, about halfway between Rising High and the curb at Taylor Street. Across the street is the Columbia Museum of Art.

Mark Plessinger, owner of Frame of Mind, was born in Dayton, Ohio, where his father managed the maintenance for the University of Dayton. At the beginning of his seventh grade in school, Plessinger moved to Augusta, where he finished Westside High School.

He came to USC's Columbia campus to major in marine science, but he switched to study hotel, restaurant, and tourism management. His stepfather ran Mauro's Pizza across Main Street from the honeycomb dorms, where Plessinger was employed part- time during his college years.

About the same time he graduated, Plessinger married a chemistry major, who earned her master's degree in chemistry from USC.

After graduation, Plessinger moved back to Ohio to work for the Old Spaghetti Factory. After a year in the restaurant business, he went to work for Lenscrafters in management training in Cincinatti and later in Dayton. After four years with Lenscrafters, he stayed inside the industry with Eye 1, also in both Cincinatti and Dayton.

Eye 1 was the No. 1 optical boutique in Ohio. Each of the two stores had 3,000 frames on display. The frames were high in quality and long on wear. Typically, frames from Eye 1 could be expected to last 10- 15 years.

The frames at Eye 1 were assembled in Western Europe, mostly, countries like Denmark, Belgium, France, and Italy.

In 2005, Plessinger and his wife moved to Columbia, where his mother and stepfather lived in Forest Acres. He worked for two years as a dispensing optician in the office of opthamologist Dr. S. Clay Miller in Irmo.

Plessinger left Dr. Miller's office to go out on his own. He focused on a niche market to kick his business into profitability. By staying strictly with high quality, high style frames, similar to what he managed at Eye 1 in Ohio, Plessinger gained clear identity.

Plessinger is selling individual identity with his unique frames, but they are not jewelry as much as they are high design or art. He tries to have a positive impact of the personality of his customers. The frames and their glasses, filled to prescriptions brought to Frame of Mind, run from about $500 to $900. Plessinger does not check vision or write prescriptions.

Frame of Mind actually opened for business last October 20, but the grand opening was less than a month ago.

As business picks up, as volume grows, Plessinger thinks about branching out but staying with the same exclusive inventory. His decision to locate on Main Street in Columbia is part of his image strategy, so there probably won't be a suburban store. But there could be another Frame of Mind in another city's downtown in South Carolina.