Vision Express to open 60 stores in India

Bangalore: Vision Express, a 50:50 joint venture between Reliance Retail and Pearle Europe, the Netherlands-based optical retailer, is exploring acquisitions of family-run optical houses for spreading its footprint in India.

Speaking after opening Vision Express’ flagship store in Bangalore, Jarek Widomski, CEO, Vision Express, said “Real estate costs are high in tier I and II cities. Acquiring family-run optical houses is one of the solutions for our growth. But, we are focussing on building store chain on our very own at present.”

“The reason why we are not exploring acquiring family-run businesses is that it is impossible to reach a consensus with the family, as there are many stake holders, but going forward as the industry gets organsied we expect them to come forward to either sell their store to us or opt to be a franchisee,” he added.

Vision Express has plans to open 60 stores with an average size of 1,000 square feet each by the end of this financial year spread across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat.

“Of these, 15 stores will be opened in Karnataka alone as retail activity is highly organised,” said Widomski.