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AyRojgar

Optical shop (spectacles)

Buying frames and lenses and assembling spectacles over the counter. A complete ordinary pair retails at Tk 649 to Tk 5,400 (online prices, 21 Sep 2026). No BSTI certificate is needed; the trade licence is the only paper.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
Optical shop (spectacles)

Optical shop (spectacles)

Starting capital
৳2,00,000 – ৳15,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
1 – 4 people
First sale
15 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
5 – 46 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Medium difficulty

About the business

There are two kinds of optical shop in Bangladesh and their economics are completely different. In the first the shopkeeper does not test eyes at all: the customer brings a power written out by a doctor or an eye hospital, and the shop sells the frame and sends the lens out to be ground and fitted. In the second a refractionist sits in the shop, works out the power, and the edging machine is on the premises. The first needs less capital, but a customer sent away for a prescription may never come back. The second carries the cost of a trained person and a machine, but keeps the whole job in the shop. Selling spectacles needs no BSTI certificate: none of the 315 products on BSTI's mandatory certification list is a spectacle, a frame or a lens. The city corporation trade licence is the only document, and Dhaka North issues an auto-generated one in 3 working days. The goods are almost entirely imported. In the customs tariff, frames carry 25% customs duty, finished spectacles and sunglasses 25%, but spectacle lenses of glass 10% and lenses of other materials only 5%. So the money is tied up in frames. Online prices on 21 September 2026: basic frames Tk 399-1,499, TR90 Tk 499-1,299, titanium and rimless Tk 950-4,000; lenses white Tk 250, anti-reflection Tk 350, blue-cut Tk 450, polycarbonate Tk 1,400. Frames turn over slowly, yet a shop must hang a great many of them to look like a shop, so the cash sits in the display case. The national market is about Tk 900 crore a year across more than 10,000 shops, which averages Tk 9 lakh a year, or Tk 75,000 a month, per shop.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳52,000 – ৳6,67,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳649 – ৳5,400 / unitMarket quote
Variable cost৳260 – ৳3,780 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin30% – 60%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue15 – 60 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time5 – 46 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle72 – 144 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss5% – 15%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity3 – 7Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • A lens edging machine if you edge in-house, plus a trial lens set, a Snellen chart, screwdrivers and small fitting tools. No price for the equipment could be sourced.Equipment
  • Stock of frames and lenses. At 100 frames and 50 pairs of lenses a small shop holds Tk 52,400 at retail prices; at 400 frames and 150 pairs, Tk 6,67,100.Starting stock
  • Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality. Dhaka North: online application, 3 working days to issue, 2 working days to renew. The fee is set under section 10(4) of the City Corporation Model Tax Schedule 2016; the exact amount could not be read from our source. Renewed every financial year.Licence
  • Training in refraction. Without it the customer must be sent to a doctor. Whether Bangladesh requires any separate registration to dispense spectacles could not be confirmed from our sources.Skill
  • An importer or wholesaler, one for frames and another for lenses. Customs duty is 25% on frames and 5-10% on lenses.Supplier
  • A small street-front shop with a glass front, good light and display cases. If eyes are to be tested, a six-metre space at the back that can be darkened.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Decide first whether eyes will be tested in the shop. If not, take a place next to an eye doctor or an eye hospital, because the customer will only arrive once a power has been written out.
  2. 2Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality. In Dhaka North you open a user on erevenue.dncc.gov.bd and upload the owner's photo, national ID, tenancy agreement and proof of capital; it takes 3 working days.
  3. 3Line up a frame supplier. Nearly all frames are imported and carry 25% customs duty; there are only about 15 frame factories in the country and they hold 8-10 percent of the market.
  4. 4Line up a separate lens supplier. Glass spectacle lenses carry 10% duty and lenses of other materials 5%, so lenses tie up less cash and a range of powers can be stocked.
  5. 5Settle how lenses will be edged: sent out to a workshop, or edged in the shop on your own machine. In-house edging finishes the job the same day, but no price for an edging machine could be sourced.
  6. 6If eyes are to be tested, a trained person is needed. Deep Eye Care Foundation in Rangpur runs a short-term refraction course for mid-level ophthalmic personnel; its MLOP certificate course is affiliated by the State Medical Faculty of Bangladesh.
  7. 7In the first consignment buy variety rather than depth: plastic, TR90, metal and rimless. Buying many of one model is how dead stock starts.
  8. 8Write the purchase date on every frame. A frame unsold in six months will not sell; mark it down and clear it.
  9. 9Keep a register of power, frame and date. When the same customer comes back in two years for a changed power, the old record keeps the job with you.
  10. 10Do fitting and small repairs free: tightening screws, changing nose pads. This is what brings customers back.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitChattogram · A port city with importers' godowns close by and several eye hospitals, so stock does not have to come through Dhaka.
  • Strong fitDhaka · Rows of optical shops at New Market, Elephant Road, Paltan, Malibagh, Bailey Road, Mirpur-1, Farmgate, Dhanmondi, Uttara and Gulshan; the eye hospitals sit in the same streets.
  • PossibleBogura · The commercial centre of the north, supplying both wholesale and retail to the surrounding districts.
  • PossibleCumilla · A large market town on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway that draws people from the surrounding upazilas for eye tests.
  • PossibleKhulna · A divisional city whose optical shops are fed by people coming in from the surrounding districts for eye care.
  • PossibleMymensingh · A medical college and a large bazaar; customers from the surrounding upazilas get their spectacles made here.
  • PossibleNilphamari · One of the country's few frame factories is here and even exports frames to Hong Kong, so domestic frames can be bought close to hand.
  • PossibleRajshahi · A divisional city with a large medical college, so there is a steady flow of customers arriving with a prescription.
  • PossibleRangpur · The eye hospital here runs the MLOP and refraction training, so people who can test eyes are easier to find.
  • PossibleSylhet · A city of families with relatives abroad, where buyers for costlier frames and progressive lenses are relatively more common.

Risks and cautions

  • HighWorking capital: Cash dies in frames. Dividing the national figures gives about 1,000 frames a shop a year, three a day, yet a shop must hang 200-400 frames to look stocked. That is three to four months of sales sitting in the case at all times, and when the fashion turns it does not sell at all.
  • HighDependency: Frames, lenses and sunglasses are almost entirely imported and frames carry 25% duty. If the dollar or the duty moves, prices move, while the shop's old stock was bought at the old price; gains and losses both arrive in one jump. Most branded goods in the market are Chinese replicas, so selling them under a brand name risks the customer's trust.
  • MediumDemand: A shop that does not test eyes sends the customer to a doctor, and if the hospital has its own spectacle counter the customer never comes back. Keeping a refractionist means a salary; not keeping one means losing some customers every day.
  • LowCompliance: Spectacles need no BSTI certificate; nothing on the 315-product mandatory list is a spectacle. The only exposure is letting the trade licence lapse, and renewal takes just 2 working days.

Sources

What changed

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