PEARLE VISION CENTER

PEARLE VISION CENTER. Pearle Vision, an American chain of eye care stores, was founded in 1961 by Stanley Pearle, an optometrist in Savannah, Georgia. In 1971, Pearle purchased a 17-store optical chain owned by Robert Hillman and Larry Kohan; together, Hillman and Kohan stayed on and helped expanded Pearle Vision nationwide.

Stanley Pearle sold his stores to the United Kingdom-based conglomerate Grand Metropolitan in 1985. Grand Met expanded Pearle Vision to more than 1,000 locations worldwide by 1990, but profits became elusive. In 1996, Grand Met sold the Pearle stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to Cole National Corporation, which operated optical departments inside retail stores such as Sears, BJ's Wholesale Club and Target. In 1997 Cole National bought the 150-store NuVision chain in Michigan and converted them to the Pearle Vision name. The Belgium stores were sold to GIB based in Belgium and the Dutch stores to HAL Investments based in the Netherlands. HAL Investments bought the Belgium stores one year later from GIB and merged both chains into Pearle Benelux.

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Source:

Pearle Vision. Wikipedia. Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearle_Vision

The 1983 through 1993 Dubuque City Directory listed 808 Wacker Drive.