LONDON, 2014-8-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — John Lewis has announced that it will open two John Lewis Opticians in its Stratford City and Cardiff department stores this Autumn.
The new venture will focus on building longstanding relationships between optician and patient and will offer customers the very best in eye healthcare.
John Lewis Opticians will feature the very latest diagnostic eye care equipment including optical coherence tomography (OCT), a non-invasive imaging test that uses light waves to take 3D cross-section pictures of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye. This new technology can help with early identification of various eye conditions and will be part of every John Lewis eye test.
The concessions will offer brands including Giorgio Armani, Prada and Ray-Ban as well as a wide range of children’s frames.
Optical services are the latest step in the retailer’s strategy to expand the retail offer within its shops and the announcement follows the launch of Kuoni concessions in eight John Lewis branches and successful catering collaborations with Joe and the Juice in John Lewis Solihull, Hotel Chocolat in John Lewis Edinburgh and John Lewis York and Ham Holy Burger and Rossopomodoro in John Lewis Oxford Street. ‘little Waitrose at John Lewis’ also made its debut at John Lewis Watford in June last year and a further shop is due to open in John Lewis Southampton this September.
Sean Allam, director commercial operations, John Lewis said: ‘We want to give our customers compelling reasons to visit our shops and believe that the time is right to launch a service that provides the right mix of fashion leading product and top quality eye care. John Lewis shoppers rely on us to provide the very best in customer service and product assortment and John Lewis Opticians takes that one step further, offering top class eye care coupled with a range of world leading brands.’
Notes to editors
John Lewis operates 42 John Lewis shops across the UK (31 department stores, 10 John Lewis at home and a shop at Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com. It is part of the John Lewis Partnership, the UK’s largest example of worker co-ownership where all 91,000 staff are Partners in the business.
John Lewis, ‘Multichannel Retailer of the Year 2014’¹, ‘Best Overall Retailer’² and ‘Best Retailer 2014’³, typically stocks more than 350,000 separate lines in its department stores across fashion, home and technology. Johnlewis.com stocks over 280,000 products, and is consistently ranked one of the top online shopping destinations in the UK. (www.johnlewis.com). John Lewis Insurance offers a range of comprehensive insurance products – home, car, wedding and event, travel and pet insurance and life cover – delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand.
¹ Oracle Retail Week Awards 2014
² Verdict Consumer Satisfaction Awards 2014
³ Which? Awards 2014
About Luxottica
Founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio, the Group is a vertically integrated organization whose manufacturing of sun and prescription eyewear is backed by a wide-reaching wholesale network and a retail network located mostly in North America, Asia-Pacific, China and Latin America. Quality of products, plants on the cutting edge, unique retail and wholesale distribution. This is Luxottica Group, a worldwide integrated leader. Luxottica’s products are distinguished by the excellent design and the high quality and they are known all over the world thanks to a strong and well balanced brand portfolio. Among the house brands are listed Ray-Ban, the most known sunglasses brand at worldwide level, Oakley, Vogue, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Arnette and Alain Mikli while the licensed brands include Armani, Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Tiffany and Versace. The Group’s wholesale distribution network covers more than 130 countries across five continents and has nearly 50 commercial subsidiaries providing direct operations in key markets. Particularly revealing is the penetration in the emerging markets, as well as in the new channels represented by the large department stores, travel retail and e-commerce. Together with the direct control on wholesale, Luxottica has the most extended worldwide retail network, comprising over 7,000 stores worldwide as of December 31, 2013.
Enquiries
For further information please contact:
Carly Edwards
Communications Officer, John Lewis
Telephone: 020 7592 5459
Email: carly_edwards@johnlewis.co.uk