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Eyewear chain Pearle is launching a new, premium chain: it will convert about 100 Dutch former Eye Wish stores to Pearle Studios with more premium brands. A more tailored approach to wealthier customers should help win back some market share.
Eye Wish loss
The new launch is part of the fall-out of the acquisition of GrandVision, which owns Pearle, by EssilorLuxottica last year. In order to gain approval for the deal, the resulting merger company had to cut loose 177 stores: the Belgian GrandOptical chain with 35 stores and 142 Eye Wish stores – including the latter’s brand.
This left about a hundred Eye Wish stores in the Netherlands, who could no longer use their brand and therefore needed a new name. That has now been revealed to be Pearle Studio, a premium chain of which the first store opened today in Amsterdam. EssilorLuxottica is in a hurry: all of the other remaining stores should also be rebranded before the end of the summer. It is as of yet unclear whether the new chain will also be exported to Belgium or other countries.
With its new chain, Grandvision hopes to win back the 6 % market share that it lost by forcibly having to depart from Eye Wish, managing director Jan-Derek Groenendaal told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Pearle and Pearle Studio should complement each other, both in terms of product range and in terms of target audience. The new chain should feature the latest new frames by luxury brands, personal advice and custom-made glasses.
