LensCrafters

LensCrafters
Industry Eye care
Founded February 1983 (1983-02)
Founders E. Dean Butler
Number of locations
 850 stores
Areas served
 Canada
United States
Puerto Rico
Hong Kong
Products Eyewear, glasses, sunglasses
Parent Luxottica
Website www.lenscrafters.com
LensCrafters Optique store, Ann Arbor, MI

LensCrafters is an American 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 States (including Puerto Rico) and Hong Kong.[1] The stores usually feature independent optometrists on-site or in an adjacent store. The company has its corporate headquarters in Mason, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut International and Pearle Vision are all wholly owned subsidiaries of Italy-based Luxottica, the largest eyewear company in the world.[2][3]

The company was founded in 1983 by E. Dean Butler, a manager with Procter & Gamble. Butler sold the company to the United States Shoe Corporation in 1985 and remained as President until 1987, when Bannus (Ban) Hudson replaced him. In 1990 Hudson became CEO of US Shoe and Dave Browne became CEO of LensCrafters. LensCrafters had just three locations when U.S. Shoe purchased it; by 1989, there were 350 locations, and LensCrafters was generating 40% of U.S. Shoe's operating income.[4]

In 1995, Luxottica launched a hostile takeover attempt of U.S. Shoe, with the goal of acquiring LensCrafters.[5] Luxottica announced in April 1995 that it had reached an agreement to purchase U.S. Shoe for $1.4 billion.[6]

References

  1. ↑ LensCrafters Hong Kong.
  2. ↑ "At LensCrafters selling candor and designer frames", New York Times (April 16, 2006).
  3. ↑ "U.S. Shoe Agrees to $1.3-Billion Takeover Offer". LA Times. April 17, 1995. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  4. ↑ "LensCrafters Inc". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  5. ↑ "U.S. Shoe, Luxottica Courting Shareholders In Takeover Battle". Hartford Courant. March 31, 1995. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Luxottica to Acquire U.S. Shoe for $1.4 Billion". The New York Times. April 18, 1995. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
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