After a comprehensive eye examination to determine your eye health and eyeglass prescription, your optometrist makes a number of other recommendations to ensure that you receive high quality lenses and coatings in order to minimize distortion and help adaptation. Unfortunately, optical stores are not required to fulfill these recommendations for good quality lenses, and may substitute inferior quality in order to provide a bargain price.

Mass marketing and advertising by optical chains has resulted in a lot of confusion regarding:

• Price
• Quality
• One-Hour Service
• "Free" Frames/Lenses
• "Two-For-One" Specials

Why good quality is important:

All eyewear is not created equal and getting a "bargain" price does not mean that you are receiving good value. If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is! Be wary of the product quality at places offering "free" frames or lenses and "two-for-one" specials.

There are huge differences in the quality of frames, lenses and lens coatings. Since your eyeglasses will be used everyday, we definitely recommend that you purchase good quality, durable eyewear. Eyewear should not be prone to breakage and should have a reasonable warranty if damage occurs.

We Promise To Spend More Than One Hour With Your Glasses!

Good quality takes more than one hour to achieve. There are 57 separate steps in the manufacturing of eyeglasses. At St. Clair Optometry, we are able to "shop around" for you to find optical suppliers and laboratories that provide a premium product quickly. On average, our delivery time is four to five business days.

The July 1997 issue of Consumers Reports rated private doctor's offices the highest in terms of overall: quality, prescription accuracy, selection and price!!!

Why we are less expensive:

• In Ontario, optometrists are required by our regulatory body to dispense all frames and lenses at our wholesale cost. A simple dispensing fee is charged to cover the cost of professional services involved in preparing and fitting your glasses. This fee is much less than the 2 to 3x mark-up of retail optical stores. Our dispensing fee is not related to the brand name of the frame or lenses that you buy. This means that we will never try to "sell" you something that you do not need.
• We encourage you to get a price quote in our dispensary and compare it to local retailers but, be sure to compare apples to apples. Remember that value includes quality as well as price. We will always tell you the exact brand name of the lenses and coatings that the doctor has recommended for your needs. This is what you must make sure does not get substituted for poorer quality materials when you are comparing prices.

Dr. Jason Hershorn, Optometrist | St. Clair Optometry
Balmoral Medical Arts Facility
1366 Yonge Street | Toronto, Ontario M4T 3A7