Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Advertised specials appear almost daily in newspapers, on radio and television.
Recently advertised specials have included half-price deals; $25 off; 25 percent off; buy-one, get-one free; and complete glasses starting at $28.
Whether the competition has yielded lower prices for consumers isn't clear. What is clear is that there's more choice for consumers than ever before - but that is a mixed blessing. How does a shopper find the best deal?
While comparison shopping works for some items, such as televisions or even prescription drugs, it doesn't work for prescription eyeglasses. Optical shops rarely sell the exact same frames.
The Roanoke Times & World-News visited six valley shops that have aimed at a high public profile through advertising campaigns. The reporter, who was not identified as such to salespeople, compared price, service and selection. Her findings were followed up by telephone interviews with the stores' managers.
Frame prices ranged from $9 to $324. Lenses for the same prescription ranged from $44 to $98, not including extras such as tinting or protective coating. None of the eyeglasses that salespeople helped the reporter select totaled less than $100, even with various specials being offered.
One shop refused to show its lowest-priced advertised lens. Another tried to persuade the reporter not to buy its least expensive advertised pair.
A Jan. 21 Richard Bartley Optical advertisement said: "Glasses start at $28 complete (includes most single vision prescriptions)."
A salesperson at the Valley View Mall location tried to talk the reporter out of buying the glasses advertised at $28, saying at least three times during a Jan. 30 visit that the customer would not want them.
The salesperson, an apprentice optician, said at first that the quality was as good as other frames, but that the inexpensive ones weren't as attractive as more expensive styles. Finally, she said that the frames were for Medicaid customers only.
Medicaid is a federal-state program that assists low-income families with medical costs. Under the funding formula, opticians fitting Medicaid patients with basic lenses and frames may be reimbursed. Many optical shops keep a selection of inexpensive frames chiefly for Medicaid patients, but there is no reason other customers cannot purchase them, said Booker Chambers, Medicaid communications director.
All Medicaid purchases are pre-authorized, with maximums set for the costs of frames, lenses, screening fees and dispensing fees. The optician cannot exceed those maximums without Medicaid approval, Chambers said.
At Richard Bartley, the Medicaid frames and lenses were sold as a package for about $40. The customer could buy the higher priced frames and get Medicaid lenses, but the Medicaid lenses would not be included in the company's standard warranty, the salesperson said.
Richard Bartley's ads did not specify that the $28 glasses were for Medicaid customers only. The same advertisement said the shop has "a large selection of glasses under $100 complete." The frames that the salesperson helped the reporter select cost $70, and prescription lenses were $60, for a total of $130.
During a follow-up interview, store manager Mavis Woods said the inexpensive glasses were not reserved for Medicaid customers only, nor is it the shop's practice to refuse to sell them to other customers.
"If someone told you that, it was very false," she said. "We have sold tons of them. I really hate if someone misled you."
Woods said she shows customers the shop's nicest frames, "and I tell them why they are the nicest frames. If, financially, they need something less expensive, I still show them good quality. I try to show everything we offer."
Richard Bartley was purchased by the nation's largest optical retailer, Pearle Inc., in December. As Pearle, the shop no longer offers package deals, said Don McCoy of Richmond, the shop's retail area manager.
The reporter's visit took place while the store was still in transition, and the salesperson may have been confused, McCoy suggested. But the package should have been offered "to anyone who wanted it," he said.
National Optical advertises complete single-vision glasses starting at $34. During a visit to the Crossroads Mall store, a salesperson did not point out the $34 eyeglasses although the reporter asked several times to see less expensive frames.
The salesperson, a retired optician, insisted that frames costing $132.50 looked better than less costly frames. Lenses would cost $44, for a total of $176.50.
In a follow-up interview, store manager Gerald All said the salesperson probably based his decision not to show the $34 glasses on his perception of the customer's needs.
The frames for the $34 glasses would sell for only $10 separately. They are typically purchased by customers who wear their glasses infrequently or only as back-ups for contact lenses, All said.
"Those who wear glasses all the time need a little more quality," All said.
The reporter wears glasses daily and uses them for work; she would more likely require a more expensive, better quality frame, he said. The salesperson had asked if the reporter wore glasses all the time.
National Optical's regional manager, Tom Cox, compared eyeglasses to jewelry: "All are functional, but some are more ornamental than others."
When asked why the salesperson kept pushing the more expensive frames, Cox said that older opticians tend to rely on the name-brand frames they have used for years.
Recent National Optical ads stress "NO hidden costs. NO tricks, NO too-good-to-be-true deals." Cox said the ads are in response to specials offered by other optical shops that he has scouted.
Several clerks in the Tanglewood Mall Lens Lab wore gold name tags indicating they were licensed opticians. Those who were not licensed soon would be, said store manager Greg Hastings, who happened to wait on the reporter.
Hastings was almost too efficient; he placed frames on the reporter's face and rejected them before the reporter had a chance to look. The reporter saw only the frames Hastings thought looked good.
During a follow-up telephone interview, Hastings said there's a good reason not to let customers see frames that look bad: It guarantees that they won't buy unflattering ones. If glasses "look like a dog" on a customer, that customer won't come back, and the people looking at the customer's glasses won't ever try the shop, said Hastings, an optician for 18 years.
The metal frames selected at Lens Lab were $99.95, and lenses were priced at $49.95, for a total of $149.90.
Lens Lab's appeal to some consumers is that they advertise "Glasses custom made in an hour." The reporter's prescription, which is fairly common, could be ready in an hour, Hastings said.
Hastings did not volunteer information about sales during the Jan. 26 visit. When asked though, Hastings said the shop sometimes honors coupons after the expiration date and found one offering $25 off for the customer, even though the company's advertisements say "limited offer, act now!!"
The coupon would have reduced the total to $124.90.
Sears Optical, at Valley View Mall, is owned by Cole National, which the trade publication VisionMonday lists as the nation's third-largest optical retailer.
Optician Chris Kowal said he believes so strongly in his 17 years' experience that, if a customer insists on buying frames he thinks aren't suitable, they get a handwritten note that he won't be held accountable. Most usually change their minds then, he said, in a follow-up interview.
Sears has a free 30-day warranty, and a two-year warranty can be purchased for $18. During that time, glasses can be replaced for any reason except loss or theft. "As long as you bring me back the pieces, I'll exchange them," he said.
Of the six shops visited, Sears had the most expensive lenses for the reporter's prescription. Regular lenses were $78. A special polycarbonate plastic lens was $98.
Frames ranged from two pairs available for $9 to about $150. Kowal said the $9 pairs were for Medicaid customers.
Sears was offering several specials. One was a discount of up to $40 on the customer's eye examination - even with a doctor not associated with Sears - with the purchase of frames or lenses. The discount "may not exceed 50 percent of the purchase price" of the exam, according to advertisements.
Or, the shop would pay for the customer's frames, valued up to $40, if the customer selected the store's best lenses. The advertisement did not indicate the cost of the lenses.
The reporter's frames would have cost $110. With regular lenses the total would have been $188, with polycarbonate lenses, $208. The $40 off would have made the reporter's glasses either $148 or $168.
Kowal said eyewear is something most people try to save money on, but they should not, because eyewear is a health matter.
"If I go to an emergency room with my arm dangling by a few tendons, I'm not going to ask who is the cheapest" surgeon, he said.
Business cards for the S. Galeski Optical Co., a regional chain with stores in Virginia and North Carolina, read: "100 years of dedication to you, our valued customer."
During a Jan. 21 visit to the Tanglewood Mall shop, a salesclerk pointed to shelves of red-tagged frames, said they were on sale for half price, then walked away. The reporter had to ask for help.
Galeski salespeople try not to smother customers, store manager Debbie Lambert said during a follow-up interview. Rather than risk offending customers by being too aggressive, salespeople give them a chance to look around and get comfortable with the atmosphere.
The shop runs a variety of specials, including the recent half-off sale to clear store shelves for a new spring line, Lambert said. In addition to Lambert, an optician for 13 years, the store is staffed by two part-time opticians and an apprentice.
Galeski offers limited warranties.
The salesperson helped the reporter select a frame regularly priced at $139 but on sale for $69.50. With the special then in effect, lenses would have cost $39, making the total $108.50.
When the reporter indicated that she might want to think about the decision, the salesperson said there was only one frame in stock and that it was a popular style that might sell quickly. It could be reordered but not at the sale price. The salesperson was not trying to pressure the customer, she said.
Pearle Vision Center, the nation's largest optical chain, offers two-for-one specials with a minimum purchase of $75, according to its ads.
A salesperson at the Tanglewood Pearle said the quality of the free pair, which comes from a "specially tagged collection," is equal to other frames in the store.
The special collection did not include brand names. It contained mostly plastic frames in colors ranging from blacks and browns to purples and blues. Many were suitable for sunglasses, said the salesperson.
While lenses and frames in the special collection are free, extras cost, as Pearle ads indicate. For instance, protective coating and tinting on the free pair costs as much as $45, the same price as for the first pair. Other extras can drive the price of the free pair up to about $80.
Pearle franchise owner Thomas Pardue said during a follow-up interview that he realizes some are skeptical of the two-for-one specials. Some competing shops claim that the basic prices are marked up to cover the "free" pair, or that the quality of the free pair is poor.
"We basically explain the deal. It is not an equal pair of glasses, money for money value," Pardue said. "The free pair comes from a select group that normally retails for $30 to $70."
The free pair is part of the shop's regular line and has not been discounted or discontinued. Nor is the price of the first pair increased to cover the cost of the free pair, Pardue said. Instead, he believes, customers tend to buy more expensive frames when they know they also are getting a free pair.
While frame prices depend on market conditions, lenses cost the same for both pairs and haven't been increased in three years, Pardue said.
His two shops are staffed by three licensed opticians, an apprentice and a frame stylist, Pardue said.
The Tanglewood store had the smallest selection of frames of the optical shops visited. Pardue, who said there were about 600 frames on the shelves, added that the store is being expanded and the selection should double or triple.
Because there were few frames in stock, the salesperson attempted to describe styles and colors. If the customer was interested enough, the frames could be ordered and delivered for the customer to try on in about three days. The salesperson gave an estimate of the cost of glasses she thought the customer would like: $119.95 on the frame, and $59 on lenses, totaling $178.95.
The franchise offers a one-year warranty, she said.
by CNB