First, most all big name brands you see are owned by the same company. Luxxotica is probably a name you’ve heard before, and they pretty much have a monopoly in the optical industry, and that doesn’t just umbrella over retail, they also own one of the largest operating vision carriers in the country called Eyemed. AND they own several optical lens brands (those are the ones you pick to go into your frames).

So WHY does this matter?

Well big company means big deals - once you become a provider that sells monopolized brands, you’re beholden to a minimum buy, prices are gouged, and now you’re stuck in this vicious cycle where you’re reporting to a 3rd party for number of sales and how you move your product. That doesn’t really work in YOUR favor, does it?

With independent, we make decisions on how much inventory we want to sell from each vendor, so we can add variety. Independent frame lines are also usually much better quality - these companies have honed their craft, and they’ve chosen to apply their passion to achieve the highest quality products. While you may be paying a little more for quality, for what you get with a monopolized brand, you’re paying far less because this time you’re actually paying for what you’re getting.

We’re small, so we want to support small, and we’ll always stand by that.