Dame Mary Perkins, 81, started Specsavers with her husband Doug in 1984 from their spare room, after the Thatcher government allowed opticians to advertise for the first time, improving pricing transparency.
Revenue from their first year of trading in 1985 was £750,000. Today, with headquarters in Guernsey, there are 1,000 branches in 11 countries. Specsavers’ UK market share is heading towards 50 per cent. Revenue to the end of February 2024 was £4.01bn, half coming from the UK, half from overseas. Staff worldwide number more than 47,000.
Dame Mary, the company’s co-founder, still goes into work every day. The entrepreneur devotes herself to the welfare of staff and customers. Her husband’s focus is on innovation and new business.
CV
Born: Bristol, February 14, 1944
Education: 1955-62: Fairfield Grammar School, Bristol (Pure Maths, Applied Maths, Physics A Levels)
1962-65: Cardiff College of Advanced Technology, BSc (Hons) Optometry
Career: 1967-1980: Ran an opticians’ chain in south-west England and Wales with her husband Doug.
1984: First Specsavers stores opened in Guernsey and Bristol
1990: Introduction of the 2-for-1 offer
2002: Expanded into audiology in the UK
2003: launched tag line “Should’ve gone to Specsavers”
2007: Made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
2016: Partnered with Newmedica ophthalmology business to help shorten NHS eye surgery waiting times.
Lives: Guernsey, with Doug. Their son John is group chief executive. They have two daughters: Julie, who ran Specsavers in the Netherlands, and Cathy, an internal auditor in the business. Four of the couple’s seven grandchildren work for Specsavers.
As a student how did you think you would use your optometry degree?
I always knew Doug and I would set up our own business. After university I did my pre-registration year with my father, who was an optometrist in Bristol before retiring to Guernsey. When I married, we set up as independent opticians in an office. Most opticians worked from offices in the 60s. If you had a shop, you had blinds in the windows.
We opened a few more small stores and got up to 23 outlets in the south-west and Wales, that we sold for £2mn.
Starting Specsavers with this capital, we hoped we might have 100 stores around the UK. We had no idea it would be so popular and go into other countries. Dad saw our first shop in Guernsey, but sadly did not live to see Specsavers’ expansion.
Did you spot a gap in the market as opticians?
In 1980 we seriously thought of working in the US. We had met an optometrist in Bermuda who was keen for us to join him in Long Island. We wanted to do something different, but in the end we didn’t go. Margaret Thatcher deregulated the professions. She wanted them to advertise, as she did not like the secrecy of charging.
The US system was attractive because opticians had showrooms, and shops with different names. The fact that we could now operate like this in the UK was great.
When did spectacles become fashion items?
Once you could be more open, advertise frames and display them in store, spectacles became more fashionable. Before 1984 a pair of glasses was a grudge purchase, because private ones were so expensive. Glasses obtained through the NHS were often free, but only had limited designs and were not fashionable. However, even the little round NHS frames that children used to wear later became popular with Harry Potter.
What has been your most important business lesson?
When you move outside of the areas you know, such as the UK, you need to do thorough research. The only way you can find out about another country is to go there and speak to potential customers. Just contacting consultants does not work.
Going into a new country you have got to be different. There’s no point in copying someone else. Specsavers is a market leader in 10 of the 11 countries we have gone into. But you can’t apply our business formula everywhere. Spain was a little harder, and the economic conditions led us to decide to wind down our operations there over the past 12 months.
Today it is the executive board that makes final decisions like whether we should go into a new country or how much should be spent on IT. They are capable people who are better than me!
Do you often ask people where they buy their glasses?
I like going incognito and finding out where people bought their spectacles. I chat with everyone: taxi drivers, fellow rail passengers and people sitting in coffee shops. Last week I was in London and my taxi driver said he had bought his glasses in Boots, because they were nearest to where he lived.
Did having children slow down your career?
I did not stop working after having the children, who are quite close in age. My career carried on. I was quite lucky to have a friend’s daughter who was a qualified nanny. She worked for us for several years.
What is your view on the change in national insurance contributions?
With staff in manufacturing plants and over 1,000 stores, the excess expenditure will run into millions. We just need to be more efficient and see more people, but small businesses will find it so tough.
What is your attitude towards personal finance?
Growing up there was not a lot of spare cash, and when Specsavers started, my children could see how things were done, and they have always been close to the business. We are not a family who splash money around. I take advantage of deals and offers in the supermarket. For the past three years I have had a little Fiat electric 500. My previous car I had for 10 years. I sold it to someone who works in my office.
I am very content with what I have got. We still live in the same house in Guernsey that we bought in 1980, when we moved here to be near my parents who were getting elderly. We were only allowed to buy an open market property [which are for people relocating to the island and are priced higher than those on the “local market”. Open market properties make up about 7 per cent of housing stock]. I have to say I would now be considered as a local. My children live in local market houses.
What are the tax implications of living in Guernsey?
In 2024, my husband and I ranked as number 11 in The Times list of top UK taxpayers. I also pay Guernsey tax on my dividends I receive from Specsavers Optical Group Ltd, which supplies all the support services to our partners in the stores.
Each store is a joint-venture partnership where the “A” shareholders [the opticians and retailers in that store]) run the business and receive the profits as well as their salaries. The “B” shareholders [Specsavers Optical Group Ltd] are paid for their support services with a percentage of the store’s turnover.
Do you have a pension?
I have a small UK government pension from when I worked in Bristol, a Guernsey state pension and a small private pension.
Do you support any charities?
I support Guide Dogs. They are lovely, especially the puppies. Vets test the dogs’ eyes to make sure they don’t have cataracts. I am also hands on with the annual Guernsey Liberation Tea Dance, a 1940s-style event attended by people who lived through the occupation of Guernsey.
What are your plans for the company’s future?
We do not want Specsavers to be sold to a private equity firm when we are no longer around. In 2023 we put the company into a family trust, so it can continue as it is, with the joint venture partner. Our wish is that eyecare remains affordable for everyone.
