Optical Services Industry Competitors

Lose a contact? If you can still find your phone or computer, you can get replacement lenses from 1-800 CONTACTS. The firm sells lenses by phone and through its Web site. It offers thousands of lenses that it buys from major manufacturers and distributors and encourages its customers to provide prescriptions for their lenses....

Gerber Coburn Optical wants you to see well while you look good. The company designs, manufactures, and services lens processing systems for the ophthalmic industry. It makes blockers, coating equipment, finers and polishers, generators, software for machining prescription lenses to fit eyeglass frames....

You can get a clearer view of Europe thanks to GrandVision. One of the largest eyewear groups on the continent, the company operates more than 550 retail optical outlets in 11 countries, mainly in France, Ireland, Italy, and the UK. Its optical chains include GrandOptical, Générale d'Optique, Solaris (sunglasses), and Vision Express (in the UK)....

If you need glasses, Luxottica Retail has you in its sights. A business segment of Italian eyewear giant Luxottica Group, Luxottica Retail is one of the world's leading operators of optical stores. The company has more than 6,200 locations in North America, the Asia/Pacific region, the Middle East, and the UK....

Optical retailer National Vision focuses on Wal-Mart but keeps an eye out for other business opportunities. The company sells low-cost prescription glasses, contact lenses, sunglasses, and accessories through about 500 locations, about half of which are in Wal-Mart stores in the US and Mexico under the Vision Center brand....

Pearle Europe is one of the region's largest optical retailers. The company owns or franchises 1,600-plus optical outlets in a dozen countries, operating in Germany (Apollo Optik), Sweden (Ogat), and Italy (Avanzi). Pearle Europe also leads eyeglass markets in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal....

Refac Optical Group has refocused its business on eyecare. In 2006 the company acquired optical retailer U.S. Vision and the retail arm of OptiCare Health Systems. Overall, Refac Optical Group operates about 515 locations in the US and Canada....

Specsavers Optical Group is focused on serving squinters on a budget. The company, founded in 1984, specializes in affordable eyecare. Through its approximately 745 Specsavers stores in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands, consumers can receive eye exams, as well as buy glasses and contact lenses....

Walman Optical brings it all into focus. The company makes ophthalmic components, providing lenses and frames to ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. Walman Optical has more than 40 offices in about 19 states in the US. Half those locations are prescription lens finishing labs while the rest offer optical instruments, contacts, designer lines, and a discount buying club for ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians....

Alain Afflelou has its eye on the French optometry market. The company operates a network of more than 750 stores (most of them are franchised), offering optical services and glasses from the Alain Afflelou brand collections. Alain Afflelou is eyeing Spain, too....

Optically challenged Britons can buy their spectacles at one of about 40 Crown Optical Centres by Crown Eyeglass. The company manufactures and sells eyeglasses through its company-owned and franchised locations throughout the UK. Crown Eyeglass also does business in Scandinavia, where there are approximately 20 shops operating under the Direkt Optik name....

It's all coming back into focus at Emerging Vision. The firm owns and franchises some 160 optical outlets under the Sterling Optical, Site For Sore Eyes, Kindy Optical, and Singer Specs names in about 15 states, the District of Columbia, the US Virgin Islands, and Canada....

Eye Care Centers of America is clearly focused on becoming the top eyewear chain. It owns or manages more than 400 optical stores in some 36 states. Its stores -- operating under the EyeMasters name and a host of others (Binyon's, Hour Eyes, Stein Optical, Visionworks, and Vision World) -- sell contact lenses, prescription eyewear, and sunglasses....

In the eye of any beholder, FIELMANN is one of Europe's top opticians. It is #1 in Germany, where it accounts for about half of all glasses sold. FIELMANN annually sells about 6 million pairs of glasses at more than 600 stores in its homeland and in Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland....

LensCrafters brings eyewear and malls together. Part of the growing retail arm (Luxottica Retail) of Italy's Luxottica Group, LensCrafters is North America's largest retailer of eyewear and related services, with about 950 stores in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico....

Pearle Vision is one of several gems in the collection of eyewear stores held by Luxottica Retail, which also operates the LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut chains. Pearle Vision's retail outlets offer eye exams, glasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, and optical accessories....

U.S. Vision sees a future in operating its optical shops in major department stores (J. C. Penney, Sears), near customer service and gift-wrapping. The company's more than 500 licensed and company-owned optical centers span the US and extend into Canada....