Please educate me a bit. I priced single vision, regular plastic lenses (ie, well drinks, not call drinks) at both Walmart and Lenscrafters. The cheapest starters that LC had were $50 more than Walmart. Is there a quality difference in this basic plastic lens, or is it just the difference in the company's mark-ups? Also, I just got a pair of PALs, using Valilux Comforts. I went to Walmart and got a pair of Transitions SV glasses (just the distance correction). My prescription is VERY mild (probably couldn't get much milder). The Varilux distance portion seems slightly--very slightly-- better than the Walmart. Since they are the same script....is this more likely a difference in lens quality, or in lens "grinding?" I'm new to glasses and this may just be the normal variants in different products. But if not, I'll make 'em redo them.
If you ask a Wal-Mart optician, they will usually tell you exactly what brand and index of lens they are offering. It will be harder to get this information from Lenscrafters, especially since their salespeople are uneducated and probably don't even know. But generally, Regular Plastic (AKA 1.5 index plastic, or CR-39, or Hard Resin) is basically the same regardless of source. But the finishing of the lens from the blank, and the fitting of the lens in the frame, and the fitting of the frame on your face, can be different depending on which lab did the work, and which optician did the fitting. My experience in general is that Wal-Mart has much better quality name brand products (especially if you ask for them by name) than Lenscrafters, and Wal-Mart has better trained opticians. But each store has thousands of locations, so your experience could vary.
Wal-Mart is also so big that they get great volume discounts from manufacturers, well below what every other merchant gets so they can mark-up accordingly yet still charge less then the competitors.
That is true for most things, but I don't think Wal-Mart dominates in the optical world (yet). Lenscrafters has the advantage of being vertically integrated since they are a part of Luxottica , the world leader in mid-range and high-end frame manufacturing and retail/wholesale distribution. In addition to owing LensCrafters, Luxottica also owns Pearl Vision and Sunglass Hut, and other retailers outside of North America.
