STEPHEN LEWIS takes a clear-eyed look at hints of a price war ahead which could bring down the cost of a new pair of specs.

FIRST it was the village store and corner shop. Then it was high street pharmacists. Now the high street optician looks set to be the next target of supermarket giants keen to turn themselves into one-stop shops for virtually everything.

Leeds-based supermarket giant Asda has already opened in-store opticians - what Asda calls Vision Centres - at 14 stores across the country. That will be expanded to nearly 50 by the end of next year, with stores in both Harrogate and York in the running to get their own opticians services in the next year or so.

Asda says the fully-trained opticians in its stores can offer a full service - from eye-testing to fitting and helping a customer choose the right frames.

And in a development that will send shivers down the spine of many a high street optician, the supermarket claims it can offer some designer spectacles or contact lenses at prices up to 70 per cent below what many people are now paying.

In a report to the General Optical Council, which regulates opticians' services, it claims customers in the UK are being "overcharged" by over £300 million a year for their glasses or contacts. And it blames restrictive advertising rules, which prevent opticians (including Asda) comparing their prices directly with the competition.

Asda wants the GOC to scrap those rules - which would pave the way for an aggressive price war between the supermarket chain and other leading high street opticians.

The plethora of "buy one, get one free" deals for specs and contact lenses indicates this is already a competitive market. But with so many competitive offers to choose from, and no direct price comparisons being made, it can be difficult for consumers to choose the best deal.

It's that fact that Asda is counting on. "It's high time customers were given a clearer view of what they're paying for their glasses and contact lenses," said Asda's optical business director, David Miles.

Cheaper glasses and contacts would obviously be a good thing. But as with other sectors where supermarkets have aggressively muscled in and priced the competition - like village stores and corner shops - out of business, we may be getting value at a price.

Annette Jowett, dispensing optician with independent York opticians Coverdales, said there was a real risk that if Asda did launch an aggressive price war, some high street opticians could be driven out of business.

Opticians relied on the sale of spectacles and contact lenses for profits, because what they were paid by the Government to do eye tests did not cover the cost of what was a highly-specialised medical procedure, she said.

"The fees that we're paid (for carrying out eye tests) are so low that they don't even cover the overheads," she said.

"If the NHS paid a reasonable fee for the work that the optician does, there would not be any problem.

"But if Asda is going to come in and cut the prices, then a lot of professional opticians could possibly go out of business."

Annette said that as an independent, Coverdales did not advertise its prices anyway, and relied on word of mouth for business. It kept prices as low as possible, and concentrated on quality of service and value rather than offering flashy designer frames, she said. Hopefully, that meant it would not suffer from any price war between larger high street chains and Asda.

"But this is worrying. We're in a very commercialised world, where it simply seems to be designer this, designer that. But the professional side of the optician's work, the sight test, is worth sticking to. It is not just about the sale of designer spectacles."

Asda stressed today its prices were sustainable without any reduction in the quality of service. "Our intention, as with everything else, is simply to offer our customers the best deal," a spokesman said.