I had a good lesson in independent versus chains on Friday.  One of the nose pads fell off my glasses earlier in the day.  This turned into the latest chapter of the Saga of Glasses. 

But let me back up and say I live in an ornery town.  Texas is known for it's eccentric individuals, but Austin is a world unto itself.  It's not Bush Country by any means, except for maybe a small acreage up at the top of Congress Ave. 

Some years ago, there was a brouhaha over the city giving financial incentives to a national chain. It spawned the Keep Austin Weird campaign, which some other cities have stolen adopted (although in this case, it's not flattery, but probably a shrewd move as more megacorps overrun the independents).  

The Austin Independent Business Alliance  has gone to great lengths to keep Austinites aware that some merchants are proud that "Local Spoken Here"  and have gone so far as promoting multiple independent business districts, or IBIZ districts, such as North Loop and South Lamar (near where I live).  O like the idea of it, and intend to patronize local businesses even more, but I fully admit I'm not as good as I should be about shopping local. 

While I don't patronize Walmart, Target is my convenience store, as it's only a few minutes walk from my home (and I do walk there).  I do most of my grocery shopping at Central Market, which is owned by HEB, which is a chain, but it's a state chain, with some stores in Mexico, so I don't feel as bad.   I do get cat food at Bark and Purr, and that does require me going out of my way. there is a closer local pet store, but their selections don't include what I want to purchase and frankly, the store is dingy and uninviting.  

I do frequent Regal Cinemas more than the Alamo Drafthouse in part because I get rewards, it's right around the corner from home (again, walking), and because I have no resistance to eating the Alamo food, which I certainly don't need. I adore Book People, but I have to watch my spending and I can easily spend triple digits without even trying in there (lots of goodies, yes, but I have no resistance!!), and I have a hard time resistance the ease of amazon.com which is at the convenience of my computer at the hour of the wolf (and now when I do use amazon, I'll do it through the LPJC site, to get them some cash, and they most definitely are local). 

I had brunch at the very local Maria's Taco Xpress, and usually have it at Kerbey Lane, although we've added Opal Divine's and Maudie's into the rotation. I eat local!  And very local, we stay mostly in South Austin. It's a South Austin thing.  That's for another post, for those reading who aren't Austinites.  We also hit Starseeds on occasion, just to remind ourselves there is more to Austin than South Austin.  And they're very, very Austin.

The intent there, although I don't always back it up with the effort to shop local.  But now I have another incentive, brought home by simply trying to get my eyeglasses fixed til I can plunk down the hundreds to get new glasses.  I know, I know, those $99 are out there, but not for my scrip, not if I want to keep my nose from being bruised.  I'm very myopic, and need those microthin lenses, and after my last experience with a vision plan, I'm not doing cheap frames and cheap glasses again. Because those cheap glasses are cheap, and inexpensive and poor quality is not something I want to support.

In a nutshell, I used to have a vision plan, so I went to Texas State Optical, first at their 38th street location. It took them three re-visits and a lot of staff attitude to get the right prescription.  A little over a year ago for the next two pairs, I went to their location at The Maul.  Only this time, one lens has a problem staying in the frame, the nose pads keep falling off, and the sunglasses weren't properly tinted, to the point that after a few months, one lens was black and the other brown.  When I went to get these issues resolved, the store in the Maul had closed.

A couple months ago I went to another TSO location, because I'd scavenged all the nose pads from the sunglasses and still lost nose pads (despite several saves).  The attitude with the different staff there was much worse.  The moment the woman realized her particular store didn't sell the glasses, she literally stepped back, raised her hands in a warding pose, and she they never did work on other TSO store purchases. Not surprisingly, their corporate office has yet to respond to my complaint. But no worries, the quality of service and product is too poor for me to consider ever using them again.

That same day, I walked over to  Bella Vision which did the repair for free. The staffer there offered to do both nose pads, but was having trouble with the second one, which wouldn't budge. I wasn't worried about it, since I was planning on new glasses this spring, but needed the repair.  The staff was very friendly, which was a huge plus. 

Only that nose pad kept falling off too, the screw fell out a couple days ago and I lost it. Unfortunately, before I found another one to use, I lost the nose pad too, after a meeting.  I had to go to the Maul to use up a CPK gift certificate, so I figured I get the repaid done at the Maul.  Little did I know.

One of the too many sharply dressed staffers at Eye Masters solemnly informed me the cost was $10.  I informed her local stores do it free, and they'll get my business for the new glasses.  I didn't find out the cost for LensCrafters since no one would talk to me until I signed up to talk to someone. Uhh, no thank you.  Bellingrath Optical charges $5 but at this point, my nose was getting scratched. Only they didn't have the right screws and couldn't get the other nose pad off, either. 

On my way home, I remembered that South Austin Optical is only a few blocks away.  So for the first time I headed in, and Mickey Stasey, the proprietor, not only fixed both nose pads, but for free. As it turns out Mickey is a trained optician as well as the store owner, so when he does glasses, he does it old style; it's not shipped to a lab. In talking with him, it was clear he not only knew his craft, but was proud of his work, which he's been doing for over thirty years.  What I saw of his selection was diverse and definitely quality.  So hat's off to Mickey and reminding me of the value of local business.  So Mickey gets my money for new glasses in another month or so.