About Us

A & I Consulting operated a retail optical store in Melbourne between 2008 and 2010. It was a discount store which openned in a high population growth area in Melbourne's outer suburbs. The philosophy of the store was to provide average quality products at genuinely low prices. We were offering good service, low prices, and good products.

Our store operated just outside a major shopping centre. Inside the shopping centre there were five optical retailers. We assessed that the population in the surrounding areas could support one more optical store.

Initially our sales were promising. Within six months of our openning, two more optical stores openned inside the shopping centre. We could not attract any more clients into our out-of-the-way location no matter what advertising we tried. There was always someone cheaper. There was always someone offering a better deal, whether or not it was bait-and-switch was irrelevant, as the target market followed the best promise. I realised we were doomed when an existing client who had bought from us previously asked, "Are $99 packages the best you have? Others have $56 packages. Could I have my prescription?". Clearly we were aiming at the wrong market.

The fact was that the discount model was not viable in this high competition scenario. It would have worked ten years earlier.

We could easily match the prices of our competitors with the use on in-house edging and our own stock. However, we simply could not get enough clients to get the necessary volume. We decided to close the shop as there was little potential to get enough volume. Changing the business model was not viable in the demographic we were in.

Our experience is evidence that the traditional model of optical business has many merits, and a business aimed purely at the discount market needs huge volume.

We still have some of our own stock. This represents the majority of the frames for sale on this website. We are now selling these frames by wholesale to try to recoup our investment.

At $6 each (plus GST), our frames are better value than buying from the factory. You would have to get 300 pieces of each model from a factory instead of 12. To get back the investment on 12 pieces is easy at this price, to get back the investment on 300 pieces is a bit more difficult no matter how cheap they are. The business case for buying these frames is clear.

Many businesses which buy our frames use them as package frames, free second pairs and as frames for VES clients who wish to upgrade. The frame quality is equivalent to frames bought from wholesalers for 6 times our price. However, please do not compare them to high-end frames as that is not what they are.

This sort of stock represents good profits to any business which has reasonable volume. It also allows easy price matching ability with the competition if required.

All S-Specs frames have spring hinges and are made of monel. They are not cheap nickel.

Please feel free to browse our stock and consider if these frames fit into your business model.