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Mary Lesley Perkins (Mary) was born on February 14, 1944, in Bristol. Her father was an optometrist. After completing her schooling from Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol, she studied optometry at Cardiff University in the 1960s. She became interested in the profession as she used to help her optician father during holidays from school or college. According to Mary, “I thought I might do something different.” But after a stint with the Citizens Advice Bureau doing charity work, and a term studying to be an accountant, she returned to optics. During her graduation, she met Douglas Perkins at Cardiff University. Douglas was born in 1943 in Llanelli. His father was a policeman.

After completing his graduation, Douglas worked as an optician in Camarthem and spent his spare time playing rugby. Mary too worked as an optician and took over her father’s practice after completing her graduation. The optical store was a one room store located over a bakery in Bristol.

Soon after, Douglas and Mary got married and moved to the West Country of England where Mary’s parents lived. Along with Douglas, she built her father’s business into a 23-chain store and sold the company for £ 2 million in 1980. The couple then moved to Guernsey. In 1984, the UK government deregulated the market allowing professions to advertise. Banking on this, they started an optical store under the name, Specsavers Opticals Group (Specsavers) in a spare bedroom of their house. A table-tennis table served as the desk of their new office. They operated from their home to keep the overheads low. The couple was the first to advertise in the UK optical market, and they drew attention to the reasonable prices of their products. Mary said, “Buying glasses then was quite expensive so people were not visiting opticians. There is a health aspect as well, so we wanted to get people to visit opticians on a regular basis and provide more choice at affordable prices for everyone.” The couple had a lot of expertise in optics and had good contacts including manufacturers. In February 1984, a store at Bristol was also launched. This was followed by the launch of stores in Plymouth, Swansea, and Bath.

While the couple began modestly with just five stores in the first year of their operations, they grew rapidly. By July 1988, the company had 100 stores in the UK and the number reached 150 in 1991. At this time, Mary felt that to move on with the business they needed world-class people at the board level who were experts in their field. With the setting up of the new board, Mary found a new role for herself. When she was not speaking to the media or attending board meetings, she was called the customer champion...

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