Costco Optical

1) The independent optometrist is excellent. I’ve been a patient of Dr. Leung for years, and she has always been thorough and professional. Truly top notch. Regarding the review that described her as rude or unfriendly, that has not been my experience at all. Quite the contrary. As for stingy, I find it odd that the person declining to provide something of value for free is considered stingy, but the person requesting something of value for free is not, but such is our society, I guess.
2) The opticians are very good, and their product fairly priced, although I would not describe it as such a tremendous bargain. The frame selection is somewhat limited, and often not quite cutting edge in terms of fashion. In many cases, a better deal on a nicer frame can be found at Warby Parker, for example. But they are clearly much more reasonable than many other opticians, which charge far more for a product that is no better.
3) The waiting — yes, it can be quite annoying. But then, I usually find there to be a goodly amount of borderline antisocial behavior among the customers at Costco. It’s certainly not Costco’s fault.

My ophthalmologist who I use for my eye exams, gave me a new prescription for progressive lenses. I have been wearing progressives for about 10 years without any problem. I usually have the Rx filled and select a frame at his office to go with the Rx of the lenses. They sell very few lenses and always recommend I use Zeiss lenses. Zeiss is the world leader in lenses for microscopes. I always pay, just for the lenses about $ 279 — 300 each lens + the cost of the frame.
I read an interesting piece in Consumers Magazine a month or so ago. They gave Costco optical shop a great rating and said the prices were extremely fair. So I decided this time around to try them… I used my own frame. They charge you a small fee of $ 18.00 if you bring your own frame, though they have lots of nice frames to chose from. I just had a frame I liked and wanted to use.
I got progressive lenses, transition coating and they were polycarbonate for $ 179.00TOTAL complete, no other extras! I paid 250.00 per lens at National Optical (in National Wholesale Liquidators) at another time.
Quality — great.
Service … I had to wait. It bothered me that there was no # system, or sign in while waiting, so I just stood by the optical counter and waited. I got a bit uptight that someone else was going to manage to cut ahead of me but that did not happen. The person handling the counter noted I was there and when the person he was helping left, he immediately called me as ‘next’.
Just be prepared to wait a bit, or go when no one is likely to be there. People have tons of questions for which they should know the answers too, but hey … they ask and ask and ask and that is what keep you waiting. I could hear the questions people were asking and if you’ve worn glasses before, you should know all the answers to your questions!
Great glasses. Price was super right! Staff who helped me were very good and knowledgeable.

I’ve used Dr. Leung for close to 10 years. I’ve never found her or her staff to be rude or stingy. The costco opticians are also excellent. Comparable eyeware at other places are much more expensive.

Got my contacts prescription at the staten island Costco. I was provided with trial sample lenses there. Unfortunately I lost one of the lenses. Brooklyn Costco is much closer to me since I live in Brooklyn. I stopped by to buy a box of contacts. They were out of my prescription. I asked if I could get a trial lens until they ordered some for me. They had the trial lenses but would nit give me one, even with a valid prescription. Staff and the doctor Wenda Leung were annoyed that I even asked. The doctor at the staten island Costco even called and asked for a favor, still wouldn’t spare one sample lens. In the end, I stopped by the first optical store on the way home and got a sample lens without a problem. Stingy, rude doctor and staff here. The optometrist is independent of the eyewear dept. though. The eyewear department staff and employees at the Brooklyn Costco are helpful and nice.