PITTSBURGH—As part of its continuing expansion plans, the HVHC Retail Group will add between 17 and 20 new Visionworks optical retail stores in the Philadelphia metropolitan area by the end of this year. The third largest U.S. optical retailer, according to Vision Monday’s just-released 2012 Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers report, HVHC plans further expansion in the Philadelphia area with an additional 13 to 15 more optical stores by the end of 2013. All of the stores will be new, not acquisitions of existing optical locations, and they will be a combination of mall and off-mall locations. “We look for the best retail locations, and Philly is a great market from a retail standpoint,” Jim Eisen, Visionworks president, told VMail. “We felt that Philadelphia’s demographics and population fits in with our mid-tier retailing.”

In total, the HVHC Retail Group plans to open approximately 40 stores this year, with about half of them in the Philadelphia area. “The rest of our strategy is to fill in our top 21 markets, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, and other locations in Pennsylvania,” Eisen said. “We’ll stay true to our focused marketing strategy. There won’t be any additional markets added in 2012. We will add a minimum of 50 stores per year for 2013 and beyond, when we will expand in existing markets and look for additional opportunities in new markets as well.”

The HVHC Retail Group currently operates 550 stores in 39 states and anticipates to have 625 to 630 stores by the end of 2013, Eisen said.