We got ourselves new specs on the same day we went to CJ Korean Restaurant. :)

JT told Hans that this particular shop at Orchard Central sells specs at $50/$75/$100 inclusive of lenses. Both JT and SH went and got themselves specs too.

If I'm not wrong, you have to top up if your astigmatism is higher than 250 or something.

The shop's at B1-53/54 (from their webby).



Hans' on the left ($100) and mine on the right ($50).

Mine has black on the outside and pink on the inside. And it fits really nicely!
Maybe I'll wear specs more often now. Lol.
Oh and I'm allergic to metal so I can only choose plastic frames.

I loved Hans' and was tempted to get the same pair.. It has a metal frame but the sides that fit on top of the ears are plastic.
But I didn't want to spend too much and they only carry one or two of each pair at the shop. And it so happened that the one Hans picked was the only one there.

We actually spent some time looking/choosing and we walked out for a cup of coffee and also to consider if we really want to get them. The guy who first served us was really nice and polite and not buggy at all.

When we went back, it was quite crowded and another lady (let's call her SA1) served us. She told us we had to wait half an hour without our lenses before our eyes could be checked.
How come 30mins when every single optical shop I've been to only requires 10mins?!
To make the wait worse, the shop is freezing cold and we could not shop around, being semi-blind and all that.

Then we had to wait for yet another lady (SA2), who seemed to care more about the single lady customer left in the shop, to check our eyesight. Okay fine that you are currently serving a customer but are you seriously gonna let two highly potential customers wait while you're not even sure if the customer you are serving now is going to buy anything? I don't know if it's cos we were younger (and probably poorer) while the other lady was in her 40s. Ugh! I assume that SA1 is not an optician/optometrist since she couldn't do it. It was even more irritating cos the lady customer seemed to be taking her time and asking tons of questions while she picked up random specs.
Like couldn't SA2 check our eyesight first while SA1 serve the customer as she slooooowly look at the specs?! And then get back to her after checking our eyes? I think the lady came in slightly after us and was still there when we left!
Hans got annoyed and we were almost about to put our lenses back on and walk away.
We did eventually get our eyes checked.. probably cos SA2 could see how pissed Hans' face looked.

I think we had to wait for 1.5 hours while they got the spectacles done.

When we came back to collect our specs, there were two guys in the shop.. one of them being the first one who attended to us. They were meticulous at making sure the specs fit well on us and that's why I think I have the most fitting pair of specs that I can ever remember. Again they were polite and humble and it was really pleasant!


Both of us topped up $50 each on top to get thinner lenses as our degrees are high. Lol.

So a total of $250 for two pairs!



They also gave us these for free.
So freaking ugly. I don't know why they were so popular a while back.
Tsk.

Hans said we should take a picture with them on anyway. So okay lor.
Oops.. it's not even properly placed on my nose. Lol.





I would say check them out if you are in need of spectacles but make sure you get served by the guys. Well, SA1 was okay since she even gave us 8days magazine to read during the wait haha.. but I can't describe her to you. So your best bet is to approach a guy SA. It's definitely worth it, especially if you are like me and hope to get your hands on a $50 pair of specs.. better still if you have lower degrees and no need for thinner lenses.

But approach a guy SA and you can be sure you'll avoid being pissified and experience good service!


Update 30sept09:

To be honest, I might have seemed too angry in my post. Well, I did the post quite a while after the incident but I guess I still felt pissed thinking about it. That was truly my experience there and I don't see anything wrong about relating it. Hans would definitely agree with me about our experience cos he was even more pissed than I was.

I told Hans about the comment left on this post and while we were talking, I was reminded of the way SA2 talked to us and how it seemed pretty unprofessional. It felt as if she wasn't very interested in serving us. She was kinda sloppy in service, talking down at us.. maybe cos we are younger and so (she thought that) we didn't need very good service. Yet when we came back to collect our specs, I vividly remember her signalling to the other guy SAs that we were her customers.. as if they go by commission. Tsk!

I don't wish to say "you pay for what you get" cos I strongly believe that service ought to be good in their own way, whether it's an expensive or (relatively) cheaper place.

I do hope that SA2 is not like that all the time and that it was just our luck to have caught her at the wrong time.

I brought a couple of friends to the outlet at Iluma before the comment was posted and I got my answer as to why the need to wait 30mins before the eye check.
I'm seriously not against the company and would definitely still recommend my friends for the good deals.