At a recent For Eyes opening in Doral, Fla., Greg Herrera (l), director of operations, with chief executive officer Jose Costa after a ribbon-cutting event.

MIRAMAR, Fla.—It looks like 2018 will be a busy year for For Eyes, the U.S. unit of GrandVision N.V. (EURONEXT: GVNV). The U.S. group plans to open up to 25 new locations over the next seven months, which will add about 20 percent to its existing retail base of about 120 locations across the U.S. “We have a very aggressive growth plan for 2018 and 2019,” For Eyes chief executive officer Jose Costa said Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with media representatives. “We’re going to open about 25 locations between now and the end of the year, and we’re starting our franchise platform.”

He did not provide details on the company’s 2019 expansion plans. GrandVision, the world’s largest optical retail company, acquired For Eyes in December 2015.

Costa said about five of the new locations that open before year’s end will be franchised units, while the other 20 will be corporate-owned For Eyes stores. It will mark the For Eyes group’s first foray into the franchising business. In the Vision Monday ranking of Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers, For Eyes stood at No. 15 for the year ended in December 2017, with estimated annual sales of $111 million.

For GrandVision, “one of the last markets to conquer is North America, and that’s why we are very, very excited to reposition For Eyes and to grow very aggressively in the U.S. and Canada in the years to come,” Costa said. “We have the full support from our global board and our global CEO, and we are very excited about our bright future in the U.S.”

The 25 For Eyes store openings will be in 11 states where the company already operates, Costa said. These states are scattered along the East Coast, Midwest (including Illinois) and California. For Eyes also operates about five optical stores in Puerto Rico and its lab—which fulfills all U.S. orders—is located in Florida.

“We are in the process of rethinking how we go to market,” Costa said during the call. “And we are investing in a lot of new technology for the stores.” He noted that For Eyes also has rolled out new television advertising in the Chicago market as it shifts advertising dollars from digital media to more traditional channels.

In combination with the new-store openings, Costa said that beginning in June or July all stores will be equipped with new technology that allows for production of personalized lenses. “We will be able to offer state-of-the-art lenses to all of our patients,” he added. In addition, he noted that many of the exclusive eyewear brands that are stocked in the For Eyes locations are sourced in Europe by Grand Vision.

For eyes was founded in 1972 in Philadelphia and has grown today to almost 120 locations across 11 states, Costa said during the conference call.