All Retail articles – Page 8
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News briefs
Mister Spex now has 35 German stores
With the opening of a store in Göttingen, in the region of Lower Saxony, Mister Spex has extended its German network to 35 stores, of which 16 were opened in 2020. The new store covers a sales area of more than 100 square meters and carries over 800 ...
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News briefs
French opticians in large malls ordered to close
As part of the new Covid-19 regulations implemented by the French government on Jan. 30, all shops operating in malls of 20,000 square meters and more have to close, to the exception of food retailers and pharmacies, but not opticians. All optical shops, regardless of their locations, had been considered ...
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Hallmann opens new flagship, headquarters in Flensburg
The German optics and hearing aid retailer Optik Hallmann is opening a new flagship and headquarters in its hometown of Flensburg, in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. The previous headquarters were also situated in Flensburg, which sits on the Danish border, but the move will enable the company to ...
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News briefs
Brexit controls suspended in Northern Ireland
Controls introduced in Northern Ireland due to Brexit were suspended Monday evening in the ports of Belfast and Larne due to threats to personnel. Mid and East Antrim council on Monday night announced it was withdrawing 12 of its staff at Larne port with immediate effect due to concerns ...
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Article
U.K., EU trade heavily affected by Brexit, worse may be ahead
Brexit has complicated life for merchants in the European Union exporting to the U.K., which highlights new paperwork requirements, higher administrative costs, delivery delays and uncertainty about what the rules of the game are now that the U.K. is no longer a member of the single market since Jan. 1. ...
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Germans’ willingness to buy is in “freefall”
The propensity to buy of German consumers is “in freefall,” according to the think tank GfK. Hit by strict Covid-19 related lockdowns, consumer confidence in Germany is seen falling to -15.6 in February from -7.5 in January, which was revised from an original reading of -7.3. “The closure of the ...
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News briefs
Italy approves a €50 voucher for the purchase of eyeglasses, contact lenses
The Italian parliament approved on Dec. 30 the 2021 budget that includes a €50 voucher for the purchase of prescription eyewear and contact lenses for low-income people. The decree implementing the voucher still has to be issued by the health ministry, in coordination with the finance ministry. The voucher ...
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Spy+ takes the contactless try-on to a new level
Spy+ is using Google ’s Image Swirl and QR-code scanning to enable customers to try on snow goggles without ever touching them. The American action sports eyewear company, which was recently acquired by Bollé Brands , says the combination “overcomes the largest barriers to retail sales in the ...
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News briefs
Progression will distribute Yniq Eyewear in North America
Yniq Eyewear , the Stockholm-based brand of snow goggles and other sports eyewear products, has signed up the Progression Brands Group ( PBG ) as its ”operating partner” for its winter sports business in North America. Yniq, which defines itself as “THE Sports Luxury Eyewear Brand,” already has a ...
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5% fewer opticians in Carte Blanche’s network
Carte Blanche , the French healthcare organization that connects consumers, health insurances and healthcare professionals, has finalized its onboarding campaign for its network of partner opticians. The company announced that 7,300 optical shops in France have been referenced this year, down from about 7,700 last year. Carte Blanche said that ...
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Article
Mister Spex expects sales to grow in 2020 and 2021
Mister Spex expects sales to grow in 2020, and again in 2021, from the €139 million posted in 2019. Last year, the German company saw its adjusted Ebitda rise to €2.0 million from €0.2 million in 2018 as it enjoyed growth in all three of its product categories, ...
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Klarna enters partnership with Verifone
Klarna, the Swedish online payments group which offers ”buy now, pay later” solutions, has entered a partnership with Verifone, a California-based provider of hardware products for payment processing, that will make Klarna available to millions of Verifone devices in the U.S. and Europe. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has impacted shopping ...
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New anti-Covid measures in Germany
In concert with the governments of the individual Länder, the federal government of Germany has ordered the lockdown of all the brick-and-mortar stores that sell non-essential products, starting on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Opticians are mentioned among the few exceptions. The new restrictions came after a spike in new contaminations ...
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Article
EU, UK extend Brexit trade talks in effort to avoid a “no deal”
The United Kingdom and the European Union had decided to wait until Sunday, Dec. 13 to find a compromise on a trade agreement that would go into effect on Jan. 1. But, the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen , said the negotiators will now continue to work into ...
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Fielmann opens its 31st store in Italy
Fielmann opened its 31st store in Italy in the town of Parma. The 150 square-meter store has a staff of six and is located in the town’s historic center. The German retailer is expected to open at least another store in the country by the end of the ...
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Acuitis enters Spanish market
Acuitis has entered the Spanish market in partnership with Andres Femenia , a local businessman who previously ran a network of 50 hearing aid stores. The first Acuitis store was opened in Valencia and a further three stores are scheduled in Spain in the first quarter of 2021. ...
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Article
Carte Blanche set to become the N°2 healthcare network in France
Carte Blanche , the French healthcare organization owned by SwissLife and other insurance companies, has extended until Dec. 11 the registration deadline for French opticians wishing to join its network, as many could not complete the process in time because of the new Covid-19 related lockdown. The company, which ...
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Article
Edel-Optics invested €3 million in robotized Hamburg flagship
Edel-Optics has invested €3 million in its new flagship store, located at Ballindamm 33 in Hamburg, Germany. The location, opened in late November after nine months of construction, enables customers to be served by opticians or by Temi personal robots and offers a selection of 250,000 items from ...
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Article
France postpones start of winter clearance period to Jan. 20
The French government has postponed to Jan. 20 the start of the winter clearance period from its initial date of Jan. 6. The clearance period will last four weeks. In radio interview with RMC/BFM TV , the Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire , added that the measure is aimed ...
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News briefs
Happy Look launches more flagship stores in Russia
Russia’s biggest eyewear retailer, Happy Look , has opened five flagship stores. Four are located in St. Petersburg and one in Yekaterinburg. Happy Look describes its flagship stores as “megastores.” On average, they have 200 square meters of shopping space showing at least 2,000 items. But, Happy Look’s ...