Pearle Vision Closing?

[John Crichton]

Has anyone heard rumors of Lux closing company owned stores in the south east that are not profitable? Specifically South Georgia. The only store left there is in a town called Tifton. Not sure if they kept any other locations in that area. Lux rep says they will close any Pearle not making a profit. Rumors? Thoughts?

[Johns]

Lux rep says they will close any Pearle not making a profit. Rumors? Thoughts?

You need to find a reliable source for information.

[John Crichton]

You might havce something there :) I just wondered if anyone else had heard the rumor as I doubted Mr L from the beginning.;)

[mattress]

i worked at a freestanding sears location that they closed so i wouldn't doubt it.

[Diane]

Has anyone heard rumors of Lux closing company owned stores in the south east that are not profitable? Specifically South Georgia. The only store left there is in a town called Tifton. Not sure if they kept any other locations in that area. Lux rep says they will close any Pearle not making a profit. Rumors? Thoughts?

Don't know the answer, but...If after evaluating the prospect of turning a store around, if the decision is tht the market won't accept it, it can't be profitable..... lots of interesting thoughts here, based on market, etc., whyWOULDN'T a corporation make a decision to close a location that was NOT making a profit...? I thought that's what business was about.

Diane

[spartus]

Don't know the answer, but...If after evaluating the prospect of turning a store around, if the decision is tht the market won't accept it, it can't be profitable..... lots of interesting thoughts here, based on market, etc., whyWOULDN'T a corporation make a decision to close a location that was NOT making a profit...? I thought that's what business was about.

Diane

Familiar with the concept of loss leaders?

And silly me, I thought business was about serving your customers/patients/clients while making a profit.

[Jubilee]

While loss leaders are certainly something many stores have, it isn't something I would associate with Luxottica. What I do think is that as they go through the analysis of all the different stores in the various markets, some locations will be closed if they aren't performing well, and the market they do serve can readily be taken in by one of their other brands...

In the past Lux has bought smaller chains and closed down the stores that were serving the same market as another one of their locations. Chosing to keep the most promising store open. If one was clearly way more profitable than another, then it was kept, and if both fairly equal, then if one was going to need major money spent to upgrade/redesign it then it would close.

Cassandra

[rep]

Familiar with the concept of loss leaders?

And silly me, I thought business was about serving your customers/patients/clients while making a profit.

Involve products sold in stores, not individual stores in a group of chain stores.

Rep

[New2opti]

Interesting, so someone else knows Pearl Vision. For 2 weeks I thought I was the only one to hear about this retailer.

[spartus]

Involve products sold in stores, not individual stores in a group of chain stores.

Rep

Strictly speaking, that's true. However, when you're in rural Jawbone County, and the only place within 40 miles other than Dr. Rinkydink's is a Pearle that can't ever seem to break even, do you hope Dr. Rinkydink sells enough of your brand to assist in establishing and maintaining brand loyalty, or do you close it down because it's losing $4K a month for your multi-billion dollar company? What happens when Dr. Rinkydink retires?

For a company as uniquely diversified as Lux, there certainly are a lot of ways to minimize the financial risk for such an enterprise. It's significantly cheaper to run a location at a slight loss for a decade than it is to open a new one at some point within that decade when the opportunity/necessity presents itself.

I'm not saying that Pearle should keep every single unprofitable location open, mind you. But in some cases, you can't just look at the balance sheet to see if it needs to be shut down.

[Diane]

Familiar with the concept of loss leaders?

And silly me, I thought business was about serving your customers/patients/clients while making a profit.

I agree that it is both, which is why I included in my comments that there are a lot of thoughts here. But, it would still seem prudent for an organization to look at profitability when making decisions.

It also seems that on one hand many here hate the chains, and want independents only around, but if the chains close locations, they are chastised for not being benevolent....HMMM. Looks like they can't win.

Just my thoughts, for what they are worth.

Diane

[rep]

Strictly speaking, that's true. However, when you're in rural Jawbone County, and the only place within 40 miles other than Dr. Rinkydink's is a Pearle that can't ever seem to break even, do you hope Dr. Rinkydink sells enough of your brand to assist in establishing and maintaining brand loyalty, or do you close it down because it's losing $4K a month for your multi-billion dollar company? What happens when Dr. Rinkydink retires?

For a company as uniquely diversified as Lux, there certainly are a lot of ways to minimize the financial risk for such an enterprise. It's significantly cheaper to run a location at a slight loss for a decade than it is to open a new one at some point within that decade when the opportunity/necessity presents itself.

I'm not saying that Pearle should keep every single unprofitable location open, mind you. But in some cases, you can't just look at the balance sheet to see if it needs to be shut down.

You can ALWAYS fine an Optometrist. Sometimes two in the same town.

Rep

[spartus]

You can ALWAYS fine an Optometrist. Sometimes two in the same town.

Rep

I don't think that I said that you couldn't. What I'm saying is that if one of those two is an underperforming Pearle (or any other chain), it may not make the best long-term business sense to close it just because it isn't making break-even money.

Now, really. Do you ever read what I have to say, or just guess what I was trying to get across and reflexively disagree?