Dr. Gary Sewell, M.D. B.Sc.
Unicity Eye Clinic
P (204) 953-5560
F (204) 949-1143
Caring For Your Eyes For Over 30 Years
copyright 2022
Dr. Gary Sewell
710 Pembina Highway
Winnipeg, MB
R3M 2M6
P 204 953 5560
F 204 949 1143
Where's The Best Place to Buy Glasses?
Who has the best lenses? Who has the best frames? Who has the best service? Who has the best value? Can I buy on the internet? Who can I trust?
There is no one best place for everyone. Different people have different priorities and value means different things to different people. Considering the following points will set you in the right direction. The top ten list of the favourite places to buy glasses is also a good place to start. And if you want to buy from someone who just has a knack for getting it right, see some of my favourite people.
Rank
Which of these things is important to you?
Supporting a locally owned company:
At one point locally owned King Optical Group was the largest Canadian optical chain (Stewart N King, Shopper's Optical, Shorney's, Braddock). Now your choices are one of the small local opticians. Fortunately, there are a lot of good ones.
Supporting a Canadian company:
Your choices are one of the small local retailers or Loblaws Optical/Superstore
Supporting local jobs:
Online is out of the question and you also won't be happy with Luxottica (LensCrafters/Pearle Vision/Sears) who closed their local lab in May throwing a couple of hundred people out of work.
Variety of quality lenses:
One might think a large optical super store will offer the widest selection of lenses. In fact they're often very restrictive. It's the grocer Superstore that offers the widest variety of any of the major retailers. It's also a strength of some of the small boutiques.
Warranty:
Prescription glasses can be a major investment so warranty and after sales service are an important consideration. Paying a premium price at a higher end specialty optical chain should result in the best warranty and service, right? This article suggests otherwise.
Service:
From the anecdotes you've told me, hands down it's Superstore. Costco consistently gets good reviews. People really like Randy at the Oakley on Portage Avenue. See my favourite people. The little boutiques are often good. They have to be to survive. On the other hand I hear a lot of complaints about the big chains.
Having something that no one else has:
If you're looking for exclusivity you'll need to go to one of the higher end boutiques: For Eyes, Academy Optical, ADL, Grimard, Focal Point, Linden Ridge Optical...
True Designer Frames:
A lot of retail chains come up with a catchy name, have frames made for them, and voila a line of 'designer' frames. Worse, you can't even count on well known designers; Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Armani, Tiffany, Burberry, Chanel, Bulgari, Coach and many more are all, well... fakes. Sadly the designers have absolutely nothing to do with designing them any more. See optical illusions and Do You Know Who Makes Your Glasses?
Cachet:
Superstore, Costco, and Walmart may offer price to quality ratios that are difficult to match, but let's face it there's not much cachet in saying you bought your glasses at Walmart or Superstore.
If you're willing to pay for it there are some very good boutiques in the city.
Convenience:
It used to be the optical chains in the malls. But Superstore, Costco, and Walmart will argue they're even more convenient (you probably buy groceries more often than you go to the mall) and their prices are far better with no loss of quality and often better service.
Finding the cheapest glasses:
Cheapest is rarely the best value, but if you're looking for the absolute cheapest glasses you're looking online.
The health of your eyes:
Buying more expensive glasses does NOT affect the health of your eyes.