I have been going to Eye World since I was probably 5 years old or younger (had glasses at 9 months…read moreold) and at one time held their record for most pairs of glasses in a year (not sure they keep these unofficial stats anymore) but was told I eventually was beaten out. Their original location was on Portland Street on the corner where the Taxi company is now and then they were in MicMac Mall for a number of years and now in their new home on Baker Drive. The one thing that hasn't changed is the customer service is fantastic. Helpful, professional, and informed. This is a family run business with Ray and Kathy Dickens still running the show. Their son Greg and the rest of the capable staff continue the service level that I've come to know for the over 35 years I've been getting glasses from them.

From the owner: See the world in crystal clarity by scheduling an eye care appointment at the optometry clinic of…read moreDr. Wafa'a Al-Atrash. As a family owned and operated business, we can help ensure optimal eye health and also assist you with selecting a pair of top-quality prescription glasses or contacts, from industry leading brands like Nikon, Menizzi, Calvin Klein, Fendi and Silhouette. For more information, please call us or visit our website.

Buying glasses can be a stressful time due to financial concerns and/or poor coverage from a work…read moreor private benefits plan. They have arranged frames from lowest to highest to help you choose within your budget. They will do everything they can to help you get the best price, going so far as to wrangle numbers to make sure you have any discount or promotion you are eligible for. There's help picking out frames if you wish and finding something that suits your face shape and your style. The only con for some, but not for us, was that it takes 2 - 4 weeks to get your glasses back. This is because they have their own lab and they are the only one around here who does. They have a husband and wife team in the lab making every single lens from scratch customized precisely to your prescription. It is just the two of them working on all orders from the four stores in HRM, that's why it takes the 2 - 4 "weeks. I'm fine waiting for quality work while supporting local businesses. We have our eye exams elsewhere as we really like our eye doctor but his pricing for glasses is not usually competitive. So this review is limited to the retail side as we were not examined by eye doctors there. I suspect they would be as lovely as the optician who sorted us out. They have four locations around HRM. I highly recommend them for getting glasses or contact lenses. Top of the line service here.

On March 11, my upper eyelid became inflamed. I visited an ophthalmologist the following day at…read moreEyes on Portland; the appointment lasted about 10 minutes and included an eye pressure measurement and a vision test. After a month of treatment with the prescribed ointment, I returned for a follow-up visit. My eye pressure was checked again (it was slightly elevated, but I was not told the actual value). The ophthalmologist examined my eye and asked me to come back in a week. At the next visit, the optometrist measured my eye pressure and said it was "normal." My question about the actual pressure reading was ignored, as was my question about the diagnosis. The ophthalmologist did not see me in the office. Instead, she briefly came out to the waiting area and stated that this condition would stay with me permanently and would return from time to time. When I asked the ophthalmologist to name the diagnosis, I was told to speak with an assistant, after which the doctor returned to her office. I then asked the assistant to provide me with the diagnosis and the name of the prescribed medication in written form. I was told that this document would cost $90. Two days later, I contacted the clinic again and requested the shortest possible written information stating only the diagnosis and the medication name. I was again told that I would have to pay for it, this time $35. As a former public servant prior to retirement, I have never encountered this type of service. I am not filing a complaint but rather trying to understand whether this is standard practice or a local anomaly. If I am convinced in the comments that this is standard practice, I will accept it as such; otherwise, I will proceed to file a formal complaint based on this review.

I went for an eye exam on Jan. 30th (pricey exam), ordered glasses and was told they would contact…read moreme when they came in (about 2.5 weeks). I didn't hear from them by Feb. 26th, so I called and they told me they were there, and have been for a couple of weeks. I asked why no one contacted me, they replied they did, through text. I did not receive a text message at all from them. When I went to pick up the glasses, same day as I called, I was given them to try on and told it would take time to get used to them, which I already knew from the exam. I asked about no one contacting me and he told me the customer usually calls to inquire. That is not what I was told when I ordered them. If I would have known that, I would have called sooner. When I got back to work, I put them on and they kept falling down my nose. My boss informed me that they should have done a fitting before I left. They did not. I feel that I didn't get very good customer service and would not recommend this company. I will try the glasses for two weeks, but I don't appreciate having to take the time to go back again to be fitted when it should have happened the day I received them. Good to know for next time.

Appalling experience in a office that open tonic and tiny for ALL TO HEAR . Health is private and…read morewe could hear a girl shouting off to clients what state their eyes are in . Very stressful plus lack of chairs ,only 4! . The woman sat behind reception looks lazy and not good as for company . Will never go to them again ! Infuriated as to fact they'd not accept our up to date insurance . They're in it for the money . Beware this horrible company !

No complaints from me. Not many options to buy Safety prescription glasses so I was happy to find…read morethese guys. The process from start to finish was smooth and uncomplicated, which is all you can ask for.

Love this place! It's a great alternative to overpriced shops especially like those attached to…read moreOptometrist's offices. I bought a pair of Oakley progressive glasses at a downtown combined optometrist/optician shop for around $750 and had a hell of a time getting used to them. I went back and was told the lenses were correct for my prescription and I should just give it time. They still suck. In contrast, I had the same prescription filled with the same quality lenses at Canadian Optical Warehouse at less than half the cost and they are perfect. Save your money and buy glasses here. I'm a fan!

Costco... where you'll come for the bulk toilet paper but stay for the hotdogs. Wait, that doesn't…read moresound right! Out of the two HRM Costco locations, I prefer this one for a couple of reasons. I will drive the extra miles even though Bayer's Lake location is much closer. The Dartmouth Crossing store is a newer build than Bayer's Lake. I find the aisles are bigger and easier to move around when the store is busy. The whole set up of the Dartmouth Crossing shopping area with wide, double lane streets and dedicated entrance/exit ramps is much better laid out than Bayer's Lake. Bayer's Lake was the city's first foray into a dedicated big-box shopping district. in the suburbs. Dartmouth Crossing learned from their mistakes. We usually seem to make Costco runs on the weekend; when lots of other people have the same idea. Shopping in crowded stores with stressed out people is like nails on the chalkboard of my soul. So being able to get through our list quickly and in and out of stripmall purgatory is paramount. Like any Costco, this store is a great place to stock up on the family necessities. After going through two in diapers I can say with authority that Kirkland baby wipes are the bomb and cheapest to boot. The Costco tire centre is the cheapest place in HRM to get your oil changed and has the lowest price on the big name tires. I can't leave out their dogs. At $1.50 for a drink and a gigantic hotdog it must be cheapest lunch in HRM.

Disabled woman left in the cold by Costco…read more If you need a heat pump don't go to either Costco or Halifax Heat pumps, here is why In September 2025 a disabled woman needed to replace her worn out heat pump before the winter. It was a 15 000 BTU and it was her only source of heating for her home. The old unit she had was a Lennox and when she saw the kiosk for Lennox in her local Costco she believed that buying a new Lennox from Costco would be a smart purchase. She could not have been more wrong. The new unit was installed at the end of Oct 2025 by Halifax heat pumps and the problems started almost immediately. It was noisy from the start and it only got worse. She called the company that installed the unit and they sent a tech out who put a thermometer in the head unit and said the temps were within normal operating range. Then told her the issue was she was running the heat pump at too low a temperature. She was told not to run it below 75 degrees Fahrenheit or 24 Celsius. She had been running the heat pump between 21 and 22 Celsius and was just told that was too low. This was the first alarm bell that something was not as it seemed. The old heat pump could be run at whatever temp it was capable of running but this 2025 model needed to be run 24 degrees C or above? That did not make any sense, but she did not argue with the tech that left without doing anything more than turning the temperature up and checking it with a thermometer. This would be the theme over the next several months. The heat pump never worked right and failed to heat even half the home, forget the entire home. Aside from checking the temp input and output with a thermometer and turning it off and on a few times no other checks of the equipment were done. On a few occasions the heat pump shut of entirely for hours at a time. This was in the middle of winter and the heat pump was not keeping the home warm so multiple space heaters had to be purchased to attempt to keep the home warm enough to live in. At one point she was told that running the space heaters was causing a problem for the heat pump. Imagine the main source of heat not heating your home and being told that using portable space heaters to keep the home at a livable temperature was the problem rather than the heat pump being the problem. She called Costco to complain and ask about options and if there was a refund policy on defective equipment. Originally Costco said yes there was a refund policy, and then changed their answer and said there wasn't. After spending a miserable winter, cold and uncomfortable and with the certain knowledge that nothing was going to be done to fix the problem, the decision was made to take the loss of money and replace the heat pump. This time reviews were carefully checked to see which installers and which manufactures had good reviews. Sadly at that point it was discovered that Lennox was not well reviewed. When Costco originally sent Halifax Heat pumps to check the home and do up the estimate she told them clearly that she needed a new unit that performed the same as her old unit and would heat the entire home. She was told that the new 12 000 BTU unit would work as well as her old 15 000 BTU unit had. It didn't. The home is 970 square feet and a quick check on the internet recommends either a 15 000 or 18000 BTU unit. The new company she called came, did their own check and estimate, and quoted an 18000 BTU unit. They also offered to remove the gas from the old unit and weight it to see if it was fully charged. What a shock to find out that the Lennox Unit was supposed to have 34 ounces and yet it only had 28.8 ounces. It was undercharged. Six tech visits and not one checked to see if the unit was fully charged despite all the issues with the unit and its failure to work properly. The part that annoys me most is that the 18 000 BTU unit was the same price as the 12 000 BTU unit she bought from Costco. I'm not saying she was ripped off but I am saying the level of customer service she got from both Costco and Halifax Heat pumps was non-existent. Costco literally left her in the cold in the middle of winter.

My husband and I have bought glasses here since we moved to Lunenburg, and the only time I switched…read moreopticians in search of a change, I was seriously disappointed. Chris Comstock and his wife run a tiny little shop with really friendly, great service. I first encountered them when I bent my original glasses out of shape when I first moved to town. I wandered down to Lincoln Street, Chris carefully re-shaped my frames and wouldn't hear of charging me. I became a loyal customer at that moment. Since then I've bought three pairs of glasses here. I have a challenging prescription (extreme myopia and now graduated lenses) but Chris is always able to help me find frames that not only work to disguise the insanely thick lenses I have to have, but are fashionable and flattering to me. And he does it from a very small stock which he and his wife change often to reflect new trends. Maybe if you just have to have some very specific designer frames you might prefer to go elsewhere, but I would bet that the Comstocks could order in anything you'd want, and you will never find better service. Friendly, professional, knowledgeable, experienced -- that's South Shore Optical.

Always great service, expensive frames for cheap prices!! Highly recommend, I've saved literally…read morethousands not going to vogue the past 6 years. Wish they're hours were online- unusual, call in advance!

Gaudet is Great! After receiving the third free repair of my Gaudet glasses I feel compelled to…read morespread the word about their excellent service & staff. Despite being smaller than other stores, Gaudet seems to have a wider selection of all styles, and many of their glasses are unique designs. I think the difference is that the owner is a passionate craftsman rather than someone running a big franchise. Looking for something unique and stylish? Gotta go Gaudet!

Personal, attentive service and a wide fun selection. Gaudet has frames you will not find anywhere…read moreelse. Highly recommend!

Was a customer about 6 years ago, and just had an appointment last week. I was surprised that both…read moreElizabeth and Frederick remembered me. They are such wonderful people, professional and nice. They give you options for frames and lenses, not pressured to buy top of the line. Also the clinic direct bills many insurance companies, so no paperwork for me. It is always a pleasant experience. I would recommend this company to anyone.

Excellent selection of interesting glasses. You won't find the same glasses all over the city. The…read moreowner is always there, and he has a great eye for finding flattering frames. Service was excellent and very friendly. I've purchased non-prescription sunglasses, as well as prescription sunglasses and regular glasses. I'm very pleased.

They were sooo kind. They were able to get me in within a couple hours when I was worried I might…read morehave a serious issue. I had the first eye exam of my life with them today and they were super super nice and very knowledgable. They explained what everything was and how it all worked which helped me feel more comfortable with a new experience. 10/10 Would highly recommend, especially for anyone with any anxiety about going to an eye doctor. :)

I've been putting off seeing the optometrist for years, and after finally breaking (it's getting…read moredifficult to read at school) I couldn't be happier with the service I recieved at Ocean. The staff were incredibly welcoming and knowledgeable, I even got to have a great eye conversation (I'm a neiroscience student) while looking at my eye exam photos. Very intelligent and friendly people! The price of the glasses themselves was a bit high; however, if I'm going to get glasses that I feel good about, quality is important! And Ocean has top quality frames and lenses. I'm a happy customer, and feel much better about the whole four-eyes transition!