I just picked up this press release:

Specsavers has now 677 shops in Europe ( United Kingdom, Holland, Sweden, Danmark, Norway)


British company looks to the future in Europe


UK OPTICAL giant Specsavers Opticians is continuing its success abroad with the announcement this week of the multi-million pound acquisition of Danish optical retail chain Louis Nielsen.

Denmark is the third Scandinavian country into which Specsavers has expanded in just over a year. In April last year, Specsavers acquired the 34-store chain Blic in Sweden, followed three months later by the 19-strong chain Två Blå. The stores are now trading as Specsavers Blic Optik and sales have doubled. And just last month, Specsavers announced it would be opening 21 Specsavers Optikk stores in Norway over the next three months.

Already the third largest and fastest growing optician in the Netherlands, where they have been established for six years, this new acquisition brings Specsavers presence in mainland Europe to 162 with several hundred new stores planned in the next five years, creating thousands of jobs.
Already the third largest and fastest growing optician in the Netherlands, where they have been established for six years, this new acquisition brings Specsavers presence in mainland Europe to 162 with several hundred new stores planned in the next five years, creating thousands of jobs.

Specsavers success in Europe is positive news at a time when most British retailers are feeling the pinch in the UK due to a slow down in consumer spending, rising costs and product deflation.

Independent retail analyst Robert Clark comments: 'UK retail sales growth rates are falling back, like-for-like sales declining, and competition increasing. This has forced otherwise ambitious UK retailers to put international expansion plans on ice.

'From the mid-1990s many UK retail leaders started expanding internationally, but the trend more recently has been one of international retrenchment or, at best, cautious expansion by means of franchising and concessions.

'Positive international expansion by acquisition - such as the refreshing example set by Specsavers - has been very much the exception rather than the rule for even the more dynamic UK retailers. The UK needs more positive examples of international expansion if it is not to continue to lose out in a fast globalising retail environment.'

Specsavers International Marketing Manager Monty McMonagle comments: 'We have had a really positive reaction from local consumers in each country we've opened and Brits abroad are genuinely pleased to see a British retailer's name above the door and prefer to shop there.'

The 32-strong Louis Nielsen chain was named in a recent survey by Gallup for Indeks Danmark as one of the ten brands with most potential in Denmark. Specsavers intends to double the number of stores within the next five years, creating in excess of 400 jobs.

Chairman of Specsavers Opticians Doug Perkins says: 'Denmark's 2.5 million glasses and contact lens wearers pay more than anyone else in Europe. They urgently need what Specsavers and Louis Nielsen stand for: fashionable, quality eyewear at low, transparent prices. Through this acquisition we'll be able to make a significant cut in eyecare costs for Danish consumers.'

Louis Nielsen, who, like Specsavers, has already established a strong reputation as the champion of value for money eyecare, says: 'This is very good news for the Danish specs wearer. It means that they can obtain the glasses and contact lenses they need at reasonable prices. On average, residents in Denmark buy new glasses every four years. With Specsavers huge buying power our customers will have the choice to buy more glasses, more often.

'Specsavers sells in one month the same number of glasses as the entire Danish market sells in a year. This means that we will be able to offer the Danish customer even better value for money and we will be able to do so in many more locations across the country.'