Spino’s Eyeglass Gallery

I just returned from picking up my new eyeglasses from Spino’s. The experience was just my speed. No pressure, lots to choose from, and a knowledgeable professional named Lucien who couldn’t have been more helpful. After a local shop wouldn’t help me, I traveled to Wayland Square in search of another shop. I walked into Spino’s and Lucien offered me more options that I thought possible. He took the lenses from my expensive, less-​than-​two-​year-​old broken frames, and retro-​fitted them to new, comfortable frames that worked with my flip up sunglasses! I was over the moon! I thought I better choose another pair while I’m here. I tried on nearly every pair. The order was duplicated, and today I have a second pair of very cool eyeglasses. Yay! Let’s hear it for Lucien, a man who faced a life-​threatening illness causing him to lose four months of work, back at his post helping everyone see the world in a new light!

Spino’s is a one-​man operation. If he has other customers you wait. He or the company he sends out to are slow. His selection of frames is good. No quick service though. No one-​hour here. That is OK if you feel you’re getting the best but I don’t think this is true. He is also not always open when his posted hours say he is with no sign to say when he will return. I went a few days ago considering new reading glasses and he was closed. I met a woman there to pick up new glasses who had to leave for a trip in 30 minutes. She had to go without her new glasses. He also overcharged me and then didn’t refund my credit card so I had to go in and he gave me cash. Could be more organized. If the sign is not oiut, he’s probably closed but check inside…

Lucien Spino seems to be a very nice man. But he is disorganized to a fault. 5 or 6 weeks after I brought in an old pair of glasses to be fitted with reading lenses, he came out from the back with the frames, asked if they were mine and said they hadn’t been done — he wasn’t sure they were mine. This was after he’d said they were late being delivered! He hadn’t even found the prescription from the one pair of glasses he had made for me three months earlier. He’d written my info on the back of an old envelope and had lost that.
Also, I have VSP (vision insurance) which he doesn’t participate in. Fine. TWICE I filled out the forms and gave them to him with stamped and addressed envelopes. He needed to put in the itemized receipt. Neither time did VSP receive them?! What’s going on with that?
Last, when I was waiting for the reading glasses, I went over 2 Saturdays in a row. His posted hours are something like 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. He wasn’t there during his office hours. I mentioned it to him and he just seemed confused.
So, if you like a laid-​back approach so much that it’s almost supine, go for it.

I have always dreaded going eyeglass shopping. I don’t mind trying on new frames, and I love to update my look… but it is the slow, tedious customer service of the «big box» eye glass emporiums that makes me crazy. I used Lens Crafters in the past and most recently Vision World, and despite their discounts, I always ended up paying an arm and a leg for my specks.
A year or so back a friend of mine recommended Lucien Spino in Wayland Square. I have been in to see him a few times for simple frame repair and after I scratched a lens to smithereens; and was happy with his low key, nonchalant manner. This week I finally got to fully utilize his services. His «eyeglass gallery» is small… he does not have the bijillion frames that line the walls of the big chains, but he had enough that I still struggled to pick my favorite. Despite the coziness of his studio, he gave me the space and time to browse on my own, and did not hover over me as I perused the selection. Once I picked my frames, he measured me and I was out of there in 10 min. No hassle, no trying to talk me into expensive extras. Best of all, it was very reasonably priced, less than the big boys on their sale days! No, actually, best of all is that I got a great deal and got to shop local, look cool (er) and feel good about myself!