Cutler and Gross

I didn’t have a «place» I went for glasses and sunglasses. Whenever I needed new frames, I always ended up trekking around the city to at least half a dozen places, trying on hundreds of pairs. I guess I’m fussy, or have a weird-​shaped face.
But the last two times I’ve needed frames, I’ve found the best selection and coolest styles at Cutler and Gross — surprising, as they only sell their own product. It’s a big store with extremely helpful, professional staff. Most stores I go to, I find 2 – 3 contenders — at C&G, I’ve always found at least 5 or 6 I really like. Your mileage will obviously vary depending on if your personal style matches C&G’s, but there’s a lot of depth and variety in the collection — I think most people could find something to love here.
A few notes on the product: all designed in the UK and handmade in Italy, and come with a no-​hassle 2-​year replacement guarantee, including disasters you caused yourself (scratched lenses, you sat on them and broke them, whatever). Yes, they’re not cheap (with prescription lenses you’re looking at probably $ 600 – 800 in most cases) but I’ve not found another store in the city with a guarantee to match that. Almost entirely plastic (acetate?) frames, by the way, so if you’re looking for titanium or whatever else, you may be out of luck. I think next time I’ll skip the other stores and just head straight here.
One star removed for lens options — I’m used to being presented with a range of options and price-​ranges for lenses during the ordering process for glasses. Lenses here seem to be «plastic» (with, admittedly, a variety of optional colours in the case of sunglasses) and I’ve never been directly presented with options for prescription lenses (regular glasses, not sunglasses) without asking. Always kind of wonder if I’m missing something as other stores seem to offer a lot more variety in terms of lens material.

I am a bit of an eyewear nerd, so when I heard that Cutler and Gross had a store in Toronto I was over the moon!
This store has hundreds of beautiful frames in their main showroom, plus a museum of their vintage frames and wearers) in the back. I could easily spend half a day trying them all on! This shop is also much bigger than their two London stores.
Staff here are super nice and have great stories about all the frames, their wearers and the history of the the founders.
Also — Came in with my frames and they adjusted them in no time! Will return with bells (specs?) on.