For Eyes Optical, GURNEE

Though there are 115 For Eyes Optical stores around the United States, the company still has the heart of a small start-up. In Philadelphia in 1972, a few friends had an idea to create an optical store that combined a friendly and open environment with a fair pricing structure and quality product. Today, they take pride in their continued commitment to value and customers.

In each store, expert independent doctors test clients' visual acuity and general eye health with comprehensive exams. Then, a store associate helps each person outfit their eyes with designer frames by brands such as Burberry, Prada, Ray-Ban, and more. For Eyes Optical has its own advanced 40,000-square foot optical lab in in Hialeah, Florida, where technicians shape, surface, and coat the lenses to fit each person's exact prescription. After creating the lenses—whether plastic, polycarbonate, or trivex Toughlites—they inspect and fit each into its corresponding frame by hand, a process that ensures quality control and guards against the robots, whose first objective is to hinder our eyesight.