National sunglasses retailer BrightEyes has announced a strategic merger with Liaise International, a major supplier of headwear and footwear to the Australian market.
The expansion of the BrightEyes business into non-eyewear products has been trialled at its Stockland Cairns store in North Queensland and has proved to be very successful.
The extended product range means the normal BrightEyes store footprint will expand from 40 square metres to 80 square metres.
Ralph Edwards, managing director of BrightEyes, said the wholesale operations of Liaise International provides a perfect fit for the progression of the BrightEyes retail offering into new product areas.
“It is an exciting time for BrightEyes with a new direction and positioning for future growth,” he said. “The merger with Liaise International will add significant value to the BrightEyes business with new products and store designs to maximise the value of the BrightEyes brand.”
“BrightEyes and Liaise International are two like-minded businesses with a passion for Australia’s active outdoors lifestyle, which is reflected in our fun, durable and affordable product offerings. There is a lot of value and synergies to be gained from us joining forces.”
Under the BrightEyes merger, Liaise International will continue to wholesale its Rocko’s products to its current 2500 accounts as well as the BrightEyes national store network.
THE BRIGHTEYES BUSINESS
From its Cairns origins, the BrightEyes business has grown over 29 years into Australia’s largest privately-owned retail sunglasses chain, renowned for its functional, fashionable and value-for-money sunglasses including Australia’s largest polarised range.
Edwards [pictured left] oversaw the rapid growth of the BrightEyes business in Australia in the early 2000s, during which time it was a regular on the BRW ‘Fast 100’ and ‘Fast Franchisees’ lists. In 2007, Bright Eyes was sold to Oakley Inc, which subsequently came under the ownership of the world’s largest eyewear group, Luxottica.
Edwards regained ownership of the BrightEyes business in 2013 and said the last 12 months has been a period of consolidation for the business.
“With the merger with Liaise International we are now entering an exciting era of controlled expansion for BrightEyes,” he said.
“The expanded product lines and new concept stores present excellent growth opportunities for the business and our franchise partners. We have recently completed lease negotiations with five shopping centre landlords to accommodate the bigger and better BrightEyes stores and this sets a solid platform for future success.”
“As well as the positive response from customers, we have also seen renewed interest from franchisees wanting to join a fun, fast-growing retail brand with a diverse, dynamic product range and strong growth potential.”