good place to get glasses in china?

[thelearninglearner]

Anybody know a good store or website to get glasses in china? In the US i always went to zenni optical to get my glasses. anything similar in china?

[889]

Buying glasses is a great way to put your Chinese to practical use.

 

Pick a large well-established place -- they're always easy to find in the city centre. Choose a day and time when they won't be too busy, so they can give you a lot of attention.

 

Enter and start walking around examining the frames. Ask for help and try a few on. Admire yourself in the mirror. Let the salesgirl admire you in your new glasses; she'll say something flattering. Let them take your old glasses for a cleaning and offer you a cup of hot water.

 

Then make your selection. But first, look at the price tag and ask the question you cannot forget to ask: 扣价之后多少钱？Frames are ALWAYS discounted from the marked price, except in some discount frame shops. Lenses are never discounted.

 

Then you head over to the counter and pick out your lenses. Lots of options, and too much to summarise here. This is where your Chinese is really tested. You can probably fake it up till this point.

 

After that you meet the guy in the white coat who will check your eyes and write your prescription. Expect to spend a few minutes wandering around the store wearing a contraption to test the prescription.

 

Finally, pay and arrange the pick-up time. Often just a couple of hours later at a big store. But can be much longer if you order special lenses not in immediate stock.

 

Return at the appointed time and pick up your new glasses. They'll do a final fitting.

 

Then walk outside as the salesgirl now ignores you while she's flattering another customer and be amazed: you can see again!

[thelearninglearner]

@889 wow this sounds like a real adventure. i was looking at lenses online. and the options are crazy. I have no idea what any of them mean. i understand some of the numbers i see. (1.67 ...etc) but none of the extra words. ooh boy. this will be fun. i especially like the part about the attention from the salesperson

[889]

They'll do all the measurements for you, but you have to pick out the lenses, and it's a real minefield.

 

I'd start by reading up on lens options in English. Many people aren't aware there are so many possibilities. And the lenses you choose have to work with the frames you choose; some lenses are too thick for some frames. And if you're astigmatic -- you know how to say that in Chinese I hope -- your options may be limited a bit.

 

Finally, foreign brand-name fashion frames can be really expensive and aren't worth it.

 

(Bear in mind the staff work complicated shift rotations. So when you come back in a couple hours intending to finish chatting up that cute salesgirl, she won't be there.)

[suMMit]

EGG

https://www.eggoptical.com/zh-hans/our-stores/

[Singe]

1 hour ago, thelearninglearner said:

wow this sounds like a real adventure. i was looking at lenses online. and the options are crazy. I have no idea what any of them mean. i understand some of the numbers i see. (1.67 ...etc) but none of the extra words

 

You don't need 1.67 unless your prescription is +3/-3 or above. What sort of prescription have you got? If it's a high minus prescription, try not to go for too big of a frame. Happy to advise further with any details provided.

[thelearninglearner]

@889thanks for the write up. I can't seem to find really good online stores like zenni so I might just follow your advice and go in person.

 

@suMMitdoesn't seem to be any in my area :( but I'll double check later to be sure.

 

@SingeI'm a low -2. I think - 2.1 or 2.2 something. I'm just looking for something with uv protection and antiglare. Nothing super fancy unless it's really worth it

[Singe]

Just now, thelearninglearner said:

I'm a low -2. I think - 2.1 or 2.2 something. I'm just looking for something with uv protection and antiglare. Nothing super fancy unless it's really worth it

 

Don't need a 1.67 in that case. UV and AR coat always a good idea. If you're under 45 years old you probably don't need progressives or bifocals so you should be able to get this cheaply. Go in person, good experience.

[thelearninglearner]

@Singe gotcha! I'll do a little bit more research. Probably will go in person as everyone suggested. 

[xinoxanu]

I don't know where you are located so I can't give you a personal recommendation, but what I can recommend is that you go to any of the million stores that sprout around university campuses.

 

They are by far the cheapest option if you are into that: I got a pair of no-name frames with very cheap glasses for less than 100kuai... and I have astigmatism in one of my eyes which always increases the price to a stupid rate! Glasses were done in 2h as well at no extra cost.

 

Admittedly the frames were heavily discounted because we were around 11.11 season, but they are pretty sturdy and if you slap a brand tag on them they could easily go for 1000kuai. The glass quality, however, is rather poor and I get weird reflections with strong-focused lights... but whatever, they serve their purpose 90% of the time without breaking the bank (to clarify: these are my spare/emergency glasses, I don't really use them that often. Please take care of your eyes' health)

[889]

Yea, just a warning that some not-so-good places will try to do a very hard upsale on the complicated lens options you don't quite understand. Just like a rental car agent doing a hard upsale on the complicated insurance options you don't quite understand.

 

Solution in both cases is to do your homework beforehand.

[thelearninglearner]

@xinoxanui think I'll follow your advice about the university campus thing. There is a pretty big university a short train ride away. Though I might get slightly better glass... Not into the reflection thing.

 

@889yeah I'm reading quite a bit about it now online

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions! 

[mungouk]

If you happen to be in Beijing there's a multi-storey spectacles mega-market called Panjiayuan Glasses City 眼镜城

https://www.thebeijinger.com/directory/panjiayuan-glasses-city 

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g294212-d1603977-Reviews-Glasses_City-Beijing.html

 

43 Huawei Beili, Panjiayuan,

Dongsanhuan Nanlu
Chaoyang District

 

朝阳区 东三环南路 内环华威北里43号楼

 

The most commonly-recommended shop, with good English spoken, seems to be D-65 on 4th Floor (edit: looking at Tripadvisor this shop has now moved to CC-8). I got a couple of pairs of reading glasses there in December and I'm very happy with them.

 

Many (most?) places have the equipment to measure you up in store and will make custom lenses.

 

Nearest metro station: Panjiayuan 潘家园 on line 10, between connection to line 7 at Shuangjing 双井 and line 14 at Shilihe 十里河.

 

 

When you leave the station by Exit A you turn LEFT, walk a few hundred yards, then take the footbridge and on the other side of the road walk under a big archway to the store entrance that is set back about another 50 yards.  See photo below.

 

There are several other large glasses shops between the station and the actual multi-storey glasses market, but you might want to ignore those and head straight to the main centre.

 

 

[suMMit]

where are you located? those egg stores are in most 1st 2nd teir cities major malls. ive had very good luck with them

[suMMit]

@mungouk

 

why should the OP want good English spoken?

[thelearninglearner]

Just an update. Went to a store. Got everything. @889no cute sales girl. She was already busy. Had to talk to Mr. Upsell. First 500 yuan frames. Don't like those? Try the 800 and these 1500 ones. 

[anonymoose]

3 hours ago, thelearninglearner said:

@889no cute sales girl.

 

I didn't see @889 mention "cute" anywhere in his post.

[edelweis]

On 10/2/2020 at 7:58 AM, 889 said:

(Bear in mind the staff work complicated shift rotations. So when you come back in a couple hours intending to finish chatting up that cute salesgirl, she won't be there.)

@anonymoose need glasses maybe ? ?

[anonymoose]

16 minutes ago, edelweis said:

need glasses maybe ? ?

 

Touché!

[889]

Yikes. I hope you got a discount.

 

I don't think I've ever paid much more than 300RMB total. I should have mentioned that I always case the whole joint noting prices first, fending off the sales help till I need them to show me the half dozen or so frames that pique my interest because they look decent and are cheap. I also tend to go to the discount 不谈价 places.