Spectacle Shoppe

These guys managed to totally and completely alienate me as a customer over the past 24 hours!!!
I went there yesterday to get a replacement set of lenses for some fancy prescription reading glasses I purchased there a few years ago. They’re nice custom jobs… titanium and bamboo frames.
They quoted me $ 702 – for ONE pair of lenses (see photo)! The glasses (and the lenses) only cost me 500 bucks to begin with? The sales guy there is excellent (and could talk an Eskimo into buying ice). So like an idiot, I left my glasses there… but I had major buyer’s remorse driving home. And my wife flipped out when I got home, especially since you can get excellent lenses from Walmart for $ 100…and the nicest, fanciest lenses with the most expensive coatings can barely break 200 bucks at Walmart or Sam’s Club or Costco. Spoiler alert: all of the eye glass companies in the Twin Cities send there stuff out to just a couple of companies. The margins these guys operate on are bigger than a drug dealer – amazing!
I MIGHT have remained a customer for custom frames, but they lied to me when I came to pickup my glasses (and cancel my order) today.
First, they offered to give me 200 bucks off. They came off the 200 so fast, this confirms what a rip-​off their prices are.
Second, they told me they couldn’t give me my prescription because I didn’t do the exam there and it wasn’t in their computer. Wait, how were you going to make my 700 dollar lenses then? Liars!
Third, they told me since I hadn’t had an exam for a few years, it was too old and I need to do a new one now. Wait, you were going to make my lenses with the old prescription 5 minutes ago! And – hello – I’m cancelling. Besides, my old prescription for reading glasses is fine.
The shenanigans over the last 24 hours ensures that I will NEVER walk through their doors again.
DO NOT come here unless you like throwing money away.
I figure I saved 600 bucks by walking way. I took some of the money I saved and treated my wife to a nice lunch.
–Daddy Maxx Retro

Best service, great Doctor in the house. i found the vintage collect surpasses every glasses Shoppe in Minnesota.

The Spectacle Shoppe is where it is at for anyone needing glasses. The selection is second to none. I always am confident that I’m going to find glasses that fit my personality and add sass to each and every day! The service is amazing. There is no where else that I’ve gone where you can get glasses turned in less than 2 days time! I love the service, friendliness, and knowledge of the staff.

My glasses are lovely and the assistance in making a choice was very good. I just wish I had them when they said I would. But the glasses came back as sunglasses and the wait to have them done correctly was very long. (and they don’t seem overly concerned about making me wait …)
You need to know that the «sale» price comes out to basically the same as full price anywhere else. They are very, very expensive, and I think you need to know what you’re getting into before you come here. If you are looking for one of a kind, unusual glasses (I was), then this might be the place for you provided you can love with a hefty price tag; if you’re looking for «just glasses», I’d steer clear.

Pretty good frame selection, crap customer service. I walked into the store with my partner and we were asked by an older woman sales associate if she could help us in a tone that conveyed «what are you doing here?/leave because I doubt you’re going to buy something.» We ignored it, thinking the experience would improve, however the woman continued to follow us around the store and demanded that I move out of the way so she could reach frames for another couple while I was helping my partner decide between two frames. I can’t help but notice how nice the woman was to this middle class straight white couple and how rude she was to us. All customers should be treated with respect, and this woman failed to do this from the second we walked in the store. Little did this jerk know, my partner is an optometrist and could have been her boss. But it also shouldn’t matter because, you know, basic human respect and kindness and all. We decided we had enough and left the store. Also, you can find most of these frames online for much less than their asking price.

I cannot say enough good things about this place. First of all, the selection can’t be beat. I have never seen so many gorgeous vintage frames in one place. Some of them are works of art. Although to be fair, I am a huge lover of glasses, the world’s most underrated accessory. Maybe that’s part of it — they get me there. Also, their staff are so helpful. They have this crazy magic power of knowing what will look good on you before you try it on… and what won’t. And they tell you the truth! They won’t let you walk out of there looking dorky… fabulous only.
After my glasses were done I was having a lot of trouble with the new prescription. Oh, and I sat on my brand new glasses. :(So, I’ve been into the shop several times over the past few weeks to get them fixed & fitted with a different prescription. They remember my name and give me roses and chocolate when I stop in. I am not kidding! Plus they have fresh-​baked cookies and coffee for free, so if you’re waiting for your lenses to be put in, it’s a nice comfortable (and delicious) wait.
To sum up — not only is the selection amazing, but they follow it up with fantastic customer service (and flowers, and chocolate). I will never go anywhere else for eyewear.

I am absolutely floored that this place averages more than 2 stars. I had one of the most awkward and uncomfortable consumer experiences I’ve ever had at this place recently. I purchased a Groupon from this place ($ 40 for $ 250) last fall — seemed like a great deal at the time. When I walked in the door of this place, I set my eyes on a place more cluttered and outdated than my grandmothers attic. There was a bizarre crowd in the store — some looking at dusty frames, others just sitting around in different random areas (a bit creepy). I was «helped» by three different employees as I browsed, each trying to sell me on off brand, ugly, and vastly overpriced frames (I quickly found out that they had just taken the Groupon amount and added it to sticker price). The glasses in this place are off brand, dusty, and outdated. When I finally found a pair to settle on (just to use the Groupon), I was rung up for a sale. The $ 299 price on the glasses became $ 650 after adding the lenses to the glasses and adding anti-​glare coding. If this isn’t highway robbery I don’t know what is. I told the lady I would rather just buy sunglasses and not waste money on a sub-​par pair of outdated glasses.
I grabbed a pair of sunglasses from a rack, expecting to pay the price shown on the price tag ($ 199), and went back to try to complete another sale. These were not great sunglasses. I didn’t know the name brand but at this point, just wanted to use my groupon and get out of there. The sales lady then rang me up and asked for $ 400 because the price tag didn’t include the lenses… Apparently cheap plastic frames cost $ 199 at this place. At that point I just left. The Groupon is a sunk cost and I’d rather throw it away than have to suffer another visit to this establishment.
My advice is to steer clear. Go to a place with an inventory of quality, not just quantity, and somewhere that offers reasonable prices. The creepy factor of this place and its staff was off the charts… take it from me and go elsewhere.

Always nice and helpful, and they have a great selection of frames.

Just got my new glasses!!! LOVE! The first place I went — which happened to be a hair salon — I got a ton of compliments! Thanks, Curt and everyone at Spectacle Shoppe.

The place is so cool. They have thousands of frames in the shop to choose from. They even have a room filled with vintage frames. And I mean FILLED. The customer service was amazing. A gentleman named Joe helped me. I highly recommend him. He didn’t pressure me at all and was extremely helpful. Once I looked through ALL of the glasses, he helped me narrow down my options, then finally pick some frames. He gave me a great deal on the whole package I received. They got the glasses done in an hour, which was great. I didn’t expect that from a small boutique! When I left Joe gave me a chocolate and a yellow rose for me AND my sister. So sweet! Highly recommend this place!!!

So, this place gets a solid 4 stars from me –
The good: They were quick and they were able to make new lenses for glasses that LensCrafters wouldn’t touch because they didn’t sell them and claimed they’d not be able to make the lenses in the proper shape. And, did I mention quick? They did this in a day… actually, in 2 hours. That’s the perk of coming to this location vs. the on South Robert — that location sends some (all?) of their lenses out to this location to be done… so, at least for my drill-​through style lenses, coming up here made a huge difference in turnaround time.
The bad: This place is pricey — I paid ~$ 270 for two single vision polycarbonate lenses with the anti-​glare coating. It was worth it because we needed them quickly, but it was still more expensive than some other places with slower turnaround times. The other bad thing was that they don’t seem to have fixed prices — I’d called yesterday and got one price and when I came in the lady behind the counter asked if I’d gotten a price quote and the number she came up with was higher than what I’d been told over the phone. I dunno, maybe one could work that to get a better price… but for me, it was a bit of a turn-​off.