In focus: Top 10 news stories of 2017

10 Acuitis crosses the English Channel

In April, the French optician and hearing chain opened the doors to its first UK store on London’s Tottenham Court Road. The spacious contemporary looking practice, just a few door numbers away from one of Specsavers’ flagship locations, sent out a message to other players in high street retail optics, that the company was serious about business in the UK, something that has since been underlined by practice openings in Milton Keynes and Oxford.

While the idea of vision and audiology care under the same roof has been around for decades, Acuitis has the long-term aim of being the Apple of retail optics. During a media launch of the new location, Acuitis UK MD Diane Newman told Optician: ‘I have desperately wanted to bring this to the UK for a long time. We are a different concept to what’s out there at the moment.’