Bennington Family Eyecare is conveniently located on Main Street in the heart of Downtown Bennington. Dr. Mercedes Smith and her husband and business manager Shawn opened the eye clinic and boutique optical in May 2025 and immediately received a warm welcome from the community.
Dr. Smith and her husband operate Springfield Family Eyecare in Springfield, Vermont and were looking to expand to another community with a great need for eyecare. When Moulton’s Spectacle Shoppe went up for sale, they decided the time was right to open their second location.
At the heart of the practice is comprehensive medical eye care. Eye exams go far beyond checking vision for glasses or contact lenses. Using state-of-the-art diagnostic technology, Dr. Smith focuses on early detection, treatment, and management of eye diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, dry eye disease, diabetic eye conditions, and ocular infections. Preventative care is a cornerstone of the practice, ensuring potential issues are identified early, often before symptoms arise, so patients can protect their long-term vision and overall health.
The care experience that we strive for at Bennington Family Eyecare is designed to feel personal and unrushed. Dr. Smith takes the time to listen, educate, and explain findings in a clear and approachable manner. Whether it’s a child’s first eye exam, contact lens fittings, specialty contact lens fittings, including Ortho-K, lenses you sleep in that give perfect clear vision during the day, or ongoing management of chronic eye conditions, the focus remains on thoughtful, customized care that fits each patient’s lifestyle and visual needs.
Complementing the clinical experience is a boutique optical unlike anything found in a traditional corporate optical chain. The optical space is carefully curated to feel welcoming, stylish, and inspiring. What truly sets the boutique optical apart is its collection of independent frame lines. Rather than mass-produced brands seen everywhere, the practice showcases eyewear from independent designers known for craftsmanship, originality, and attention to detail. The frames are selected not just for their fine aesthetics, but for their quality, comfort, and durability. Many are handcrafted using premium materials such as high-grade acetate, titanium, and innovative sustainable components.
This curated approach ensures that patients can find frames that genuinely reflect their personality and style, whether that means bold and artistic, minimal and modern, classic and refined, or something entirely unique. Our patient and caring optical team is highly trained in styling and fitting, helping patients choose frames that complement their face shape, coloring, lifestyle, and visual needs. The result is eyewear that doesn’t just correct vision but becomes a confident extension of who you are.
Our lens technology receives the same level of attention. Bennington Family Eyecare offers the most advanced lens designs tailored to each prescription, including the most technologically advanced progressive lens designs on the market today. We also offer Transitions lenses in many color options to match your unique style and to complement your frame. Specialty lenses for work or hobbies, blue-light filtering lenses, and Crizal anti-glare coatings will have you seeing your best.
Bennington Family Eyecare represents a thoughtful evolution in eye care, where health and personal expression coexist effortlessly. It is a place where patients feel cared for medically and inspired stylistically.
We are open Tuesday – Friday from 9-5 and closed 12-1 for lunch. To request an appointment for an eye exam please call 802-442-0781 or visit us online at www.benningtonfamilyeyecare.com.
Feel free to stop in anytime to browse our eyewear selection at 463 Main St., Bennington, VT 05201.
