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Grand Vision history
Grand Vision company history timeline
The roots of GrandVision lead back to 1891, when Christian Nissen opened his first optician's store in Helsinki, Finland.
The pair launched their own company, Fotofast, in 1981.
In 1982, the company added developing machines to the retail stores themselves, choosing shopping malls for its new locations.
1984: Company is renamed Photo Service.
Photo Service acquired one of these, the eight-store chain Photo Hall launched by appliance retailer Darty, in 1986.
In the mid-decade, Butler sold his company to United States Shoe Corporation and then left that company in 1988 in order to found a new company, operating on a similar concept, in Australia and the United Kingdom.
After a year of preparation, the pair opened its first Grand Optical store in the Belle-Epine shopping center near Paris in May 1989.
GPS ended 1989 with sales of FFr 15 million.
1989: Company introduces one-hour eyeglasses dispensing in Paris and changes its name to Groupe Projets Services.
By mid-1990, GPS had doubled the number of its Grand Optical stores, while continuing to build up its Photo Service and Photo Hall chains.
Photo Service had grown to 103 stores by the end of 1993.
The company changed its name to Grand Optical Photoservice (GOP) in 1993.
More successful was the launch of a discount eye wear chain, Générale d'Optique, which opened two pilot stores in 1993.
By the end of 1994, however, GOP had sold off its Photo Hall chain.
1994: Company goes public on the Paris exchange.
That opportunity came in 1995, when the company acquired the Photo Station chain.
After testing a new store format in 1995, GOP launched Solaris, a small boutique concept specializing in sunglasses, the following year.
The development that led to the GrandVision of today gained momentum when the international investment company HAL Holding entered the optical market in 1996 by first acquiring the Dutch and Belgian operations of Pearle Vision.
GOP quickly built up Générale d'Optique, which had 50 stores by the end of 1996.
The company had begun adding new markets, including Belgium in 1998; the Vision Express acquisition had also brought it stores in more than 20 countries.
1998: A restructuring leads to the creation of the International Optical Branch.
Photo Station jumped to more than 200 stores in 1999.
Solaris, the most recent of the company-launched brands is a fast-growing chain of sunglasses specialists, with 27 stores in 2000 with an average size of 50 square meters per store.
Mar 4, 2004 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
The further growth was fueled by numerous further acquisitions including, eventually, the French based and also multinational optical retailer GrandVision SA in 2005.
Jan 1, 2008 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
Jan 1, 2009 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
Jan 1, 2010 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
Jan 1, 2015 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
Concept plans were developed and a public meeting was held on October 12, 2017 to receive community input on the concepts.
Jan 1, 2017 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
The City Council approved the Grand Avenue Vision Plan on February 14, 2018 and authorized staff to submit grant applications to SANDAG. The cost to implement the full Vision Plan is estimated at $15-Million.
On February 13, 2019, the City Council approved the grant agreement and budgeted $1,100,000 as grant matching funds to implement the first phase of the Grand Avenue Vision Plan.
Oct 24, 2020 | Grand Vision, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre, Warner Grand's 90th Anniversary
The Mitigated Negative Declaration prepared for the project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act and Specific Alignment Plan, were adopted by the City Council on July 21, 2021.
The growth of GrandVision throughout the years with its strong retail banner network caught the eye of EssilorLuxottica, which led on 1 July, 2021 to the purchase of HAL’s majority stake in the organization.
Apr 1, 2021 | Archives, Grand Vision, Restoration, Warner Grand History, Warner Grand Theatre
All donations are tax-deductible. © Grand Vision Foundation, 2021
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Grand Vision competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Vision Packaging | 1984 | $15.0M | 50 | - |
| Nationwide Vision | 1985 | $120.0M | 450 | 18 |
| Optical Outlets | 1987 | $9.5M | 75 | 32 |
| DC Dental | 2002 | $5.0M | 88 | 2 |
| Synergy Orthopedics | 2001 | $11.0M | 63 | - |
| EyeSite | - | $490,000 | 6 | 5 |
| Ed Medical | - | $9.4M | 50 | - |
| Ladera Career Paths | - | $1.6M | 10 | - |
| Clarkson Eyecare Inc | 1979 | $39.0M | 175 | 141 |
| OfficeWorks | 1984 | $2.3B | 9,501 | - |
Grand Vision history FAQs
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Grand Vision may also be known as or be related to Grand Vision and Grand Visions Inc.