Specsavers in the fast lane

Specsavers is still expanding in the UK during the recession and opening new stores every week according to its founder, Dame Mary Perkins.

Speaking at a media event held in the newly refitted Tottenham Court Road practice to celebrate the brand's 25th anniversary, Dame Mary revealed plans to open 30-40 new practices a year in the UK.

'What we've done is open stores in smaller communities so people don't have to travel too far to their nearest Specsavers,' she told Optician, adding that when doing so Specsavers has had to change its approach. 'You have to control costs in terms of shop fitting and equipment because you're in a small community where you're not going to get the volume of people through. However, because of our buying power, we are able to offer the very latest optical technology, such as fundus cameras, in our stores,' she explained.