The company, which entered the Dutch market in a three-site pilot scheme 18 months ago, is planning to add 55 additional practices over the next four years. All Specsavers' Dutch practices will be joint ventures, similar to its UK branches, and it is currently looking for new sites in major cities and towns in the Netherlands. According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the group is determined to achieve a 20 per cent share of the Dutch optical market when all its planned branches are open. The three existing Dutch practices, in Haarlem, Breda and Gouda, traded originally as Optiprima Opticians, but with shop fittings which closely reflected Specsavers' UK group. They have now been renamed 'Specsavers Opticiens'. Doug Perkins, chairman of Specsavers, said: 'In the Netherlands, eye care costs much more than in the UK. The Dutch buy new spectacles and have eye examinations on average once every four years. Dutch consumers have always paid too much for their eye care and we are planning to bring costs down.' He added that an eye examination by an optometrist in the Netherlands usually consisted of refraction only. 'We offer the same full examinations to our Dutch customers as are provided in the UK,' he said. 'The reputation of Specsavers Opticians has reached the Netherlands and the brand offer appears to have caught the imagination. Since the stores were re-launched 10 days ago, demand has risen by more than 300 per cent.' The company claims it has a waiting list of professionals who want to join the group.