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SALT LAKE CITY — Dropped, squashed, bent and broken, eyeglasses have a tough time surviving everyday wear.
Americans spend more than $15 billion every year on eye wear. Much of that goes to replacing broken glasses.
However, new specs can cost a couple of hundred dollars, or even more if you're looking for designer frames. A cheaper solution may be to repair instead of replace the broken frames.
There are several eyeglass repair shops along the Wasatch Front.
For example, All-American Eyeglass Repair has been fixing eyeglasses for 13 years that most people think can't be fixed. Manager Kasey Christensen said there are very few cases in which a pair of frames is trashed beyond repair.
“We can do anything on a metal frame and most breaks on a plastic frame we can fix,” he said.
Using a solder gun and a laser welder, Christensen can put snapped metal frames back together, even the titanium ones. He can also melt new hinges into plastic frames or fix broken bridges.
“We attach everything with a metal pin, then glue acrylic around it to hold it in place,” he explained.
Christensen said the average repair takes about an hour and costs about $50. Compare that to hundreds of dollars for a new pair.
“Huge savings,” he said. “We always recommend you fix your glasses.”
Dave Bailey picked up his repaired glasses while we were there. They were broken in five places. Instead of buying new, Bailey got his frames fixed.
“It’s so much cheaper than having to buy a whole new frame,” he said.
Yes, you can go online and buy frames for less than $100. But if you have glasses you don't want to part with, repair might be a great solution.
