Specialized Service & Unique Eyewear at W.L. Wiggs

Ever heard of custom-made, 3-D printer eyeglasses that you can help design yourself? It’s an exciting new technology that you need to see at W.L. Wiggs Opticians in Stony Brook.
W.L. Wiggs is the kind of place you can come to if you’re looking for something different and unique in eyewear. They even carry prescription ski and motorcycle goggles, along with prescription dive masks. The shop also offers specialized services, such as walk-in DMV eye exams, that allow you skip a trip to the Motor Vehicle department when renewing your license.

After almost ten years owning the W.L Wiggs optician shop in Stony Brook, Paul Mastrorocco continues to move the business forward in some really innovative ways even as he maintains the tradition of good customer service and respectability built by the original owner over 50 years ago.

“While we have the popular, mainstream fashion brands, our customers come here to find the styles and service you won’t find everywhere else,” Mastrorocco said.

Breakthrough 3-D Printer Technology

Mastrorocco is ready to be one of the first to offer 3-D printer technology in eyewear to Stony Brook Village Center. He expects to be ready sometime late summer/early fall. The technology allows customers to create a custom design specifically fitted to their face and head dimensions.
“You can choose the shape, size and color and then we’ll do a scan of your head to create something that no one else has,” He said. “You can even bring in a fabric or other colored or patterned swatch that we can upload and apply to it.”

He said that the cost for custom glasses is not overly prohibitive and is in line with what you’d expect to pay for typical fashion brands.

Unique Eyewear Styles

W.L. Wiggs carries the top fashion brands, Coach, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Ray-Ban, etc., but again tries to offer “the more limited brands you can only get in certain places,” he said.
For example, Oliver Peoples is a line that has extremely limited distribution but has a following of customers who know the line for its quality and craftsmanship. The store also carries Lafont eyewear, a family-owned manufacturer of fine glasses made in France since 1923.

“We try to carry the styles that, as a friend said, ‘are for someone who doesn’t necessarily want what everyone else has,’” he said. “These along with the mainstream fashion brands people look for.”
Right now, the trend in eyewear is going toward more circular and rounded shape variations. Plastic frames remain the most popular.

Active Eyewear

If you’re a motorcycle rider who wears glasses, stop in at W.L. Wiggs opticians where you’ll find an assortment of motorcycle goggles that can be fitted with your prescription.
For other active eyeglass-wearers, W.L. Wiggs has ski goggles and diving masks that can be made into prescription so “people don’t have to be limited in the activities they enjoy,” he said.
And if one of the things you don’t enjoy is a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles to update your license, you can get a walk-in vision screening at W.L Wiggs for $25. The shop files the results electronically to the DMV and then you can go home and renew your license on-line. You don’t have to go to DMV at all.

Mastrorocco took over the optician business here in Stony Brook in 2009 after Mr. Wiggs, who started the business in the 1960s, approached him when he was retiring.
“He was looking for someone to continue the legacy and for someone who did business like him,” Mastrorocco said. Mr. Wiggs was well-respected in the community and was known for his warm, Southern mannerisms.

Mastrorocco was fortunate enough to have been mentored by his own father, who is 91 now. He also got his degree in Optician/Ophthalmic Dispensing from Buffalo University.
“I worked under my father and he taught me the nuances of the business,” he said.

Even as he respectfully kept the name of the shop W.L. Wiggs and maintains the quality of service by maintaining a full lab on-site, Mastrorocco takes pride in how he’s built the business. He now accepts most insurance vision plans, whereas in the past the shop didn’t.

“I grew up with the business and I love the fashion and technical aspects of it,” he said. “Plus I’m a people person so I enjoy that aspect of it.”

WL Wiggs Opticians, 125 Main Street, Stony Brook, NY 11790

(631) 751-2801