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Utah businesses selling out of solar eclipse glasses

Posted at 6:25 PM, Aug 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-16 20:25:36-04

SALT LAKE CITY – If you’ve been able to snag a pair of solar eclipse glasses, consider yourself lucky.

Utahns are having a tough time tracking them down.

Anticipation is building for Monday’s total solar eclipse, but finding the special specs to view the rare event has been a nightmare for many, especially for those who bought defective ones from Amazon.

“We've been looking for more than a week, and we've called every optician and optical office we could. There's one local place in Bountiful that has them but they're selling them for five bucks a piece and they literally had 20 pairs,” said Laura Chartenko.

There are a handful of retailers in Utah who are selling the glasses, including Maverik.

“Our joke is that the eclipse is actually brought to you by Maverik. It goes right through our path of stores through Boise, Eastern Idaho and Wyoming,” said Aaron Simpson, VP of Marketing for Maverik.

The convenience store is having a tough time keeping the sought-after glasses on shelves.

“We literally brought a hundred down to the store here 15 minutes ago and we're down to about 20," Simpson said.

At The Leonardo, people waited for doors to open at 10 a.m. Wednesday, hoping to score a pair of glasses.

“The demand has been unbelievable. People are coming from everywhere to come get them,” said Drew Ehrgott, design director for The Leonardo.

But with just 2,000 in stock, a lot of people walked away empty-handed.

“Schools have been calling for like 500-plus each, and unfortunately we weren't able to supply all of them with all their wishes,” Ehrgott said.

Your best bet could be at Clark Planetarium, where hundreds of people braved long lines.

“It's been like this all day... every day and will only get worse until Saturday,” said Seth Jarvis, Clark Planetarium Director.

The planetarium received their final shipment of 21,000 pairs of glasses on Monday. They’re rationing them – 5 per customer – so supplies will last through the weekend.

“I needed 7 of them so I was fortunate to have a lady in front of me, I paid for her glasses and she gave me the bonus ones. Perfect! 5 is not enough,” said Steve Peterson.

Here’s a list of legit companies in Utah that carry eclipse glasses, though, there’s a good chance they’re sold out already. Scheel’s in Sandy tells Fox 13 they’re expecting a shipment of 500 glasses on Friday.

Retail Chains:

7-Eleven
Best Buy
Bi-Mart
Casey's General Store
Hobby Town
Kirklands
Kroger
London Drugs [sold out]
Love's Travel Stops [sold out]
Lowe's
Maverik
Pilot/Flying J
Toys "R" Us
Walmart