Mary Perkins an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year UK Lifetime Achievement Award for her continued contribution to entrepreneurship and the economy. Perkins is a founding patron of the not-for-profit social enterprise, Modern Muse. Mary Perkins Dame Mary Lesley Perkins, (born 14 February 1944) is co-founder of Specsavers, the British retail opticians chain. Together with her husband, co-founder and chairman Doug Perkins, Dame Mary has three children, all of whom work for Specsavers, and are eventually expected to take over the privately owned company. She attended Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol. She then went to Cardiff University to train as an optometrist. At
Boots Opticians Boots Opticians Boots Opticians Ltd. operates a chain of ophthalmic and dispensing optician stores in the United Kingdom. The company is a subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance (58%) and De Rigo (42%). The company first began trading in the British optical retail market in 1983 in Nottingham, before opening practices in Peterborough, Leeds, Mansfield, Luton and Derby in 1984. Boots Opticians Ltd. was formed in 1987, with the acquisition of Clement Clarke Ltd. and Curry and Paxton Ltd. On 29 January 2009, it was announced that Boots Opticians were to merge with Dollond & Aitchison, forming a chain of 690