Vision Express
Encyclopedia
Vision Express is one of the four major opticians
that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses.
The company opened its first store in 1988 at the MetroCentre. After buying out LensCrafters
' UK base, they further increased their number of stores. They had over 220 stores across the UK by 2007. There are now over 330 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland.
(owned entirely by the proprietor but under licence to use the Vision Express name and with some access to Grand Vision services) and Joint Ventures (premises owned entirely by proprietor, but setup cost subsidised by Vision Express).
The first two types of store which provide a one hour service using both semi-finished lenses (prescription being cut from scratch) and stock lenses. The JV stores tend to provide an overnight service also, with some exceptions. A new One Hour On Demand service has recently been introduced to the company, whereby if a customer would like their spectacles back within the hour they pay a £5 express charge, otherwise the job will be ready the next day. This has been brought in to effect to stagger the amount of jobs any one lab would be expected to carry out at one time.
Their headquarters are in Lenton, Nottingham
.
The French parent company Grand Vision
has stores under various brands across Europe, and the rest of the world.
Its rivals in UK include Specsavers
, Boots Opticians
and Dollond & Aitchison
. Under franchise agreement there is a strong Vision Express brand present also in Latvia
n and Lithuania
n markets. These shops were acquired from GrandVision by Latvian entrepreneurs of "LU Optometrijas Centrs SIA".
purposes. The blog spam attempting to promote VisionExpress.com with a link for the keyword "eye test". The Wikipedia page for Vision Express had also been edited to try and promote "eye tests" and "opticians" in the External Links section as promotional links back to the VisionExpress.com website. In both instances, the links would have automatically being tagged with nofollow
, which according to Google
means the links would have been of little benefit for ranking purposes anyway.
UK Opticians (retailers)
In the United Kingdom, businesses that sell prescription spectacles and contact lenses are referred to as 'opticians', after the profession of that name...
that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses.
The company opened its first store in 1988 at the MetroCentre. After buying out LensCrafters
LensCrafters
LensCrafters is an international retailer of prescription eyewear, and prescription sunglasses, and the largest optical chain in the United States, with about 90 stores in California alone. It was founded in 1983 in the U.S. and has subsequently expanded to over 850 stores in Canada, the United...
' UK base, they further increased their number of stores. They had over 220 stores across the UK by 2007. There are now over 330 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Business Structure
Stores are divided into four types: Optical Lab, Superstores, FranchisesFranchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
(owned entirely by the proprietor but under licence to use the Vision Express name and with some access to Grand Vision services) and Joint Ventures (premises owned entirely by proprietor, but setup cost subsidised by Vision Express).
The first two types of store which provide a one hour service using both semi-finished lenses (prescription being cut from scratch) and stock lenses. The JV stores tend to provide an overnight service also, with some exceptions. A new One Hour On Demand service has recently been introduced to the company, whereby if a customer would like their spectacles back within the hour they pay a £5 express charge, otherwise the job will be ready the next day. This has been brought in to effect to stagger the amount of jobs any one lab would be expected to carry out at one time.
Their headquarters are in Lenton, Nottingham
Lenton, Nottingham
Lenton is an area of the City of Nottingham in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. Politically, it falls within the Nottingham South constituency. Most of the area lies within the electoral ward of "Dunkirk and Lenton", however the "Lenton Triangle" area, considered by most residents to be part...
.
Takeover by Grand Vision
Grand Vision acquired Vision Express in 1997.The French parent company Grand Vision
Grand Vision
GrandVision B.V. is a leading worldwide optical retailer with various retail companies and formats in 38 countries , as of December 2009 , throughout Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The company’s headquarters are at Schiphol, the Netherlands....
has stores under various brands across Europe, and the rest of the world.
Its rivals in UK include Specsavers
Specsavers
Specsavers Optical Group Ltd is the biggest optical retailer in the UK and Ireland. It is also the biggest of the four major opticians that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses, with Specsavers having a 39% share of the market...
, Boots Opticians
Boots Opticians
- History :The company first began trading in 1983 in Nottingham, before opening practices in Peterborough, Leeds, Mansfield, Luton and Derby in 1984...
and Dollond & Aitchison
Dollond & Aitchison
Dollond & Aitchison are one of the oldest opticians in the United Kingdom, having been established in 1750.- History :On 21 April, 1750, Peter Dollond opened a small optical business in Vine Street, near Hatton Garden in London. He was joined by his father John Dollond in 1752. The Dollonds became...
. Under franchise agreement there is a strong Vision Express brand present also in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n markets. These shops were acquired from GrandVision by Latvian entrepreneurs of "LU Optometrijas Centrs SIA".
Additional Services
Vision express offers digital retinal photography. This involves making a digital image of the back of the eyes. It allows the optometrist to record in detail the structures of the back of the eye. When a succession of images have been built up over several visits, small changes at the back of the eye can be more easily detected.Controversy
In September 2010 it was reported that blog spam comments were appearing online that were trying to promote Vision Express for SEOSearch engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...
purposes. The blog spam attempting to promote VisionExpress.com with a link for the keyword "eye test". The Wikipedia page for Vision Express had also been edited to try and promote "eye tests" and "opticians" in the External Links section as promotional links back to the VisionExpress.com website. In both instances, the links would have automatically being tagged with nofollow
Nofollow
nofollow is a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of an HTML a element to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index...
, which according to Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
means the links would have been of little benefit for ranking purposes anyway.