When most people in the United States need eyeglasses, they go to a mall or discount store to see an optometrist, then they go get the glasses made at the optician located in with the eye doctor or next door. But glasses from the mall are expensive, often costing hundreds of dollars per pair.
You’re not just buying glasses when you get them at the mall. You’re helping pay the store’s high rent and for all those employees. There are many alternatives to this, including buying from an independent optician not in a mall — or my favorite choice, ordering cheap eyeglasses online.
At online glasses retailers, you can save hundreds. Some offer single-vision non-bifocal glasses for as little as $7. That’s not a typo: glasses that cost more than a hundred at Walmart or Target are often available for less than $10 online — and the quality is the same.
You can get bifocals and specialty frames for a bit more. You just have to look around for the best deal, but you‘ll always pay only a fraction of the in-person price.
So why are they so much cheaper? It’s all about the location and the economies of scale. You can buy cheap glasses of high quality online because the online eyeglasses companies operate from a single location and mail the glasses to you rather than having to pay rent and pay employees in hundreds of locations.
But is the quality really that good? In most cases, the frames and lenses are the same ones you’d get at the mall — just for a fraction of the price. That means you really can get glasses that are exactly the same as the ones at the mall for A TENTH of what people who buy in person are paying.
And complete measurements make it possible for you to measure old glasses in millimeters and then find some that match the fit. You don’t need to be professionally fitted. If something goes wrong and you need replacement screws or nosepieces, you can get those at one of those discount store opticians for just a few dollars even though you didn’t buy the glasses there.
So forget the mall for glasses. Order online and save a bundle. It’s a good decision you won’t regret.
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