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When most people think of Costco, they think of it as a place where you can buy a year’s supply of paper towels, new tires for your car, and enough mayonnaise to fill a small swimming pool, but a lot of people don’t pay attention to the fact that they sell eyeglasses there. So are eyeglasses a good deal at Costco?
We have four members of our family who wear eyeglasses and two of them are my growing kids who have to change glasses all the time. So I’ve been around the block buying eyeglasses. I’ve bought them pretty much anywhere you can.
Overall, what’s my review of Costco Optical?
Costco is one of the top-rated optical centers. They offer reasonably-priced, quality frames for both children and adults, although their frame selection is limited. Their all-inclusive lens package is an excellent value. Costco Optical allows returns for 90 days, but does not offer a warranty after that period.
I want to tell you a little bit about our experience buying glasses at Costco and whether I’d return there again.
Costco Frames
Some of the first questions people ask about when they’re buying glasses is what are the frames like? What’s the selection and quality?
Costco has some pretty good quality frames. I feel like they’re definitely on par with what you can get at a doctor’s office. They have a decent selection. Their styles are nothing super stylish, but they’re fine. They’re everyday glasses.
Adult Frames
One of my complaints about their selection is that in the adult glasses, they have a lot to fit an average-sized face, but if there’s anything at all unusual about the size and shape of your face, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble finding glasses there.
In my family, my husband has an unusually small head for a man and they just don’t have a lot of smaller men’s frames. There was actually not a single pair of frames there that fit him.
I have kind of a small nose bridge, so a lot of plastic glasses especially, will sit too low on my face and there was only maybe one or two that actually fit me well there.
Kids’ Frames
The kids’ frames are nice. They’re cute, but they just don’t have very many. When you’re looking at a kids’ face, there’s such a variety of sizes, when you’re talking about a 6-year-old versus a 12-year-old. There may only be two or three frame options that fit your particular child.
In the kids’ frames I have not had as good of luck. Also, with the kids’ frames at Costco, there aren’t very many exciting frames with bright colors and characters.
They have a few of those, but not a whole lot. My son really wanted something more exciting than what Costco offered.
We have bought frames from Costco for my daughter. Her frames are actually the only ones in our family that we’ve bought at Costco. She has a pretty average-sized face and we were able to find ones that fit her. We ordered her a pair of kids’ frames for her first pair when she was ten, and then a pair of petite ladies frames when she was 11, and we actually just ordered her another one recently.
Costco Lenses
One of the best things about Costco optical is that their lenses are an all-in-one package. When you buy lenses you’re going to get the polycarbonate lenses, which are resistant to breakage. These have an anti-glare coating on them and they have an anti-scratch coating on them.
These are really your only choice for the single vision for lenses, which is great because that’s what most people are looking for anyway. You also have an add-on option of blue light.
Costco also offers progressive bifocal lenses as well as transitions lenses, which will turn into sunglasses.
Costco Glasses Cost
I’ve bought three pairs of glasses at Costco. Two pairs were about $110 and one was about $150. Those were all children’s pairs and the children’s glasses do come a little bit cheaper than the adult ones.
For adult glasses, I would expect to pay maybe in the range of $150 to $180 for your complete pair, with the anti-glare and anti-scratch included. Now compared to other places, that’s really a great deal.
A lot of eye doctor’s office, you’re gonna pay somewhere in the five to six hundred dollar range without insurance. Compared to your other lower-cost options it’s a really good price for the value that you get at Costco.
How is the Service at Costco Optical?
I’ve bought glasses at a few different Costcos and I have definitely found that their employees are excellent. They really know what they’re doing and can help you pick out the glasses.
They’re really good at fixing them and getting them measured and everything. I’ve been really impressed with the staff I’ve met at Costco Optical centers. The one downside to service at Costco is, because they’re so popular, every single time I’ve gone there’s been quite a wait of people to get in to talk to somebody. It doesn’t even seem to matter what time of day you go.
So you may feel a little bit rushed just because there’s a line of people behind you, but at least their employees are fantastic and when you do get the service, you’ll probably be happy with it.
Costco Optical Return Policy
So after you get your glasses, you might be wondering what their return policy is. At Costco, you can return your glasses for up to 90 days for any reason, even if it’s just you don’t like the frames. If there’s something wrong with your lenses, they will replace them within that 90 days for any reason.
Now after that 90 days, some places, you might have a warranty available. At Costco, there is no warranty, so after 90 days you cannot return them for any reason. And if you are somebody who’s prone to breakage or other issues with your glasses, that might be a concern of yours. If you’re concerned about a better warranty, you might want to check out Walmart Vision Center instead because they do have a better warranty.
Costco Optical Review: Conclusion
Overall I think Costco Optical is a fantastic option, as long as they have frames that fit your face and your style. For the three of us who have not been able to find anything at Costco optical, we’ve all actually had better luck at Warby Parker.
Warby Parker can be a little bit less expensive and a little bit more stylish, and they have more options for sizes to fit different faces. Check out my Warby Parker Review. You may also want to check out my Walmart Vision Center Review.
But overall if you go with Costco, I think you’ll be really happy with them!