No end in sight for the "Wrestling Rabbi," aged 84. Rabbi Raphael Halperin's popular Optica Halperin optical store chain - boasting 93 stores throughout Israel - is expanding to the United States. Three stores will open in New York - Flatbush, Boro Park and Manhattan - and one in Los Angeles.
In addition, Globes reports, the Halperin chain and Walmart have begun negotiations for the opening of Halperin glasses outlets in Walmart stores.
The first American Optica Halperin store is scheduled to open next month in New York, at an initial investment of $300,000.
Optica Halperin, founded in 1988, is known both for its low prices and for its trademark "smashing glass" radio jingle, in which the narrator announces, "We continue to break the market."
Rabbi Halperin once said that he saw no need to expand his business abroad, because the "Divine help" he received was already helping him earn enough.
Optica Halperin can offer its low prices to the U.S. market, as well as "within the hour" service. Market surveys show that many American Jews already buy their glasses at Optica Halperin during their visits to Israel.
Rabbi Halperin has a rich history as a yeshiva boy in Bnei Brak, a close disciple of the renowned Chazon Ish (Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz), and a professional wrestler in New York who won 159 straight matches. He later returned to Torah study, publishing a multi-volume work on Jewish sages and study throughout history, as well as an encyclopedia geared towards traditional Jewish families.