Specscart’s Walkden store is where the multi-million-pound global spectacle designer-maker business first got going back in 2017.
Specscart founder and managing director Sid Sethi ran the shop singlehandedly for nine months after painstakingly repainting the retail store by hand.
During the Walkden store’s first three months of trading its quarterly sales only came to a modest £2,594.40 but since then the store has grown, relocated to new premises nearby and secured an army of loyal repeat customers.
Exactly seven years later, the Walkden store brought in quarterly sales of £90,158.37 – a more than 30-fold increase in sales.
Specscart got its first lucky break in retail thanks to The Albert Gubay Enterprise Award which came with a rent-free refitted shop in Walkden town centre’s new-look Edgerton Walk, a £5,000 grant and business support.
From those humble beginnings Specscart is on target for a £5m turnover in 2025, has three bricks and mortar stores across Greater Manchester and exports its glasses to 120-plus countries worldwide.
Sid said: “I have never forgotten where Specscart came from – that brilliant little shop in a town in the city of Salford. With a helping hand from The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, we got started on a shoestring, 18-hour days and an unflinching desire to shake the UK optical industry up forever.
“When we moved to a new and bigger Walkden store in 2021, I don’t mind admitting that I cried like a baby having to leave the old shop behind because that was where Specscart got started and look at us now!”
Derwent Estates manages the property portfolio belonging to The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, which includes retail, leisure, industrial, commercial sites and nine retail parks in the north of England.
Scott Hall, Asset Manager of Derwent Estates, said: “We have watched with great interest as Specscart has gone from strength to strength and delighted that Walkden Town Centre is an integral part of this success story.
“Back in 2017, when Sid won The Albert Gubay Enterprise Award we could see that he was full of ambition, creativity and commitment but also had strong commercial acumen.
“We felt Sid was the perfect recipient of the first prize in honour of our late founder and the Specscart success story has proved us right.
“We look forward to seeing what the next seven years hold for Sid and Specscart and wish them both all the very best.”
To find out more visit www.specscart.co.uk.
Photo below shows L - R is Sid Sethi, MD of Specscart with Julian Dow, Walkden Town Centre manager in 2017