In 1999 we opened Eye Q Optical in Harvard Square. Our vision was to provide fashionable, but wearable, eye glasses at a fraction of the price of the designer labels. In addition to having an innate aversion to the branding and prominent logos of the majority of frame lines, we believed that most of these frames were over priced and often generic looking. We succeeded in finding interesting, “indie” frame companies from Canada, France, Denmark and even Alabama. Unfortunately, these companies simply didn’t survive in the eyewear jungle. Our first foray into designing eyeglass frames was an attempt to recreate and improve upon our favorite, but now defunct, styles. Somewhat to our surprise, our styles were even more popular than their inspirations had been. LAVA was born in 2001 and continues to be a successful core brand. In the years that followed, Eye Q has grown from one small indie eyeglass shop to three locations in Boston’s “artists” neighborhoods, adding a South End location in 2003 and a Jamaica Plain location in 2005. Along the way we have greatly expanded our in house designs to 7 distinct frame collections. In addition to LAVA, we have Flirt, an exclusively women’s line, XSight!, an exclusively men’s line, AMP is our collection of bolder, more colorful styles, relic is a collection of vintage inspired frame styles, zinK is our interpretation of “frameless” eyewear, and RayBurn is our sunglass line. Around town our signature looks have become identifiable as complete strangers - recognizing Eye Q styles on each other - will point to their glasses and say to the other “Eye Q?”.
We are proud of our achievements and continue to refine and define our signature styes for the loyal fans from around the world that consider Eye Q there eyewear home.
UPDATE: look for our exciting new collection of colorful titanium frames this fall
Services
- Eye Exams administered in our high tech exam room (ALL Locations)
- Glasses are fabricated on site, in state-of-the-art lab
- Same-day service available
- Most insurance discounts are honored
- Thousands of contact lenses in stock