EXHIBIT 99.1


                        COLE NATIONAL AMENDS AND EXTENDS
                                CREDIT AGREEMENT

        CLEVELAND, Ohio, June 27, 2003 - Cole National Corporation (NYSE: CNJ)
announced today that it has amended, restated and extended its Credit Agreement
with its bank lenders. The maturity date of the credit facility was extended to
February 1, 2007 from May 31, 2006. The size of the facility was adjusted to $60
million from $75 million. In addition, certain financial covenants, including
the maximum leverage coverage test, were amended.

        As of May 3, 2003, the end of the Company's first quarter for fiscal
2003, commitments outstanding under Cole National's letters of credit totaled
$11.5 million. There were no working capital borrowings outstanding at any time
during the first quarter.

ABOUT COLE NATIONAL
        Cole National Corporation's vision business, together with Pearle
franchisees, has 2,180 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 761 locations nationwide, catalogs, and the Internet at
WWW.THINGSREMEMBERED.COM. Cole also has a 21% interest in Pearle Europe, which
has 1,166 optical stores in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Sweden.