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                            COLE NATIONAL CORPORATION
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The following is a press release issued by Cole National on July 20, 2004:


[Cole National Logo]                                    PRESS RELEASE
                                                          For Immediate Release

1925 Enterprise Parkway                        Listed on New York Exchange
Twinsburg, Ohio 44087                          Symbol "CNJ"

CONTACT:
COLE NATIONAL CORPORATION                   OR KEKST AND COMPANY
JOSEPH GAGLIOTI                             VICTORIA WELD/RUTH PACHMAN
330-486-3100                                212-521-4800

   Cole National Corporation Announces Election of Directors at Annual Meeting

- --Meeting for Shareholder Vote on Merger with Luxottica Adjourned to July 22--

     CLEVELAND, July 20, 2004 -- Cole National Corporation (NYSE: CNJ), today
     announced the election of eight nominees to the company's board of
     directors. The directors elected today are: Walter J. Salmon (Chairman),
     Larry Pollock (President and Chief Executive Officer), Jeffrey A. Cole,
     Ronald E. Eilers, Timothy F. Finley, Irwin N. Gold, Peter V. Handal and
     Charles A. Ratner.

     Following election of directors, Cole National adjourned the annual meeting
     prior to the consideration of the Luxottica merger, to 4 p.m. local time,
     on Thursday, July 22, 2004, at The Charles Hotel, One Bennett St.,
     Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.

     If the merger with Luxottica is approved at the July 22 reconvened annual
     meeting, Cole National stockholders will receive $27.50 per share in cash,
     plus an additional amount equal to 4% per annum from July 22, 2004 through
     the closing date of the merger, upon completion of the transaction.

     As previously announced, Cole National's Board of Directors has unanimously
     confirmed its recommendation that Cole National stockholders approve the
     Luxottica merger agreement, as amended, at the reconvened meeting on July
     22. Stockholders of record of Cole National as of May 21, 2004 will be
     entitled to vote on the Luxottica merger at the reconvened meeting on July
     22, or any adjournment thereof. The Luxottica merger agreement, as amended,
     is subject to approval by Cole National stockholders, receipt of regulatory
     approvals and other customary conditions.

     ABOUT COLE NATIONAL

     Cole National Corporation's vision business, together with Pearle
     franchisees, has 2,178 locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the
     Virgin Islands and includes Cole Managed Vision, one of the largest managed
     vision care benefit providers with multiple provider panels and nearly
     20,000 practitioners. Cole's personalized gift business, Things Remembered,
     serves customers through 727 locations nationwide, catalogs, and the Inter-





     net at www.thingsremembered.com. Cole also has a 21% interest in Pearle
     Europe, which has 1,496 optical stores in Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
     Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland,
     Portugal and Sweden.

     SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

     Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking
     statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
     1995. Such statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that
     could cause actual results to differ materially from those which are
     anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
     risks that the Luxottica merger will not be completed, risks that
     stockholder approval may not be obtained for the Luxottica merger,
     legislative or regulatory developments that could have the effect of
     delaying or preventing the Luxottica merger, fluctuations in exchange
     rates, economic and weather factors affecting consumer spending, the
     ability to successfully introduce and market new products, the ability to
     effectively integrate recently acquired businesses, the ability to
     successfully launch initiatives to increase sales and reduce costs, the
     availability of correction alternatives to prescription eyeglasses, as well
     as other political, economic and technological factors and other risks
     referred to in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
     These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and
     Luxottica and Cole National do not assume any obligation to update them.


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