Mary Perkins running PR. She has admitted donning disguises and visiting Specsavers stores, posing as a customer. Perkins was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University in 2005. The same year she received the "Rotary International Community and Vocational Service Award" for her services to charity and in 2006 won the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Perkins was the first female optician in the UK to receive the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007. The accolade was also in recognition of her other charitable work, including the Guernsey annual "Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance for
Boots Opticians stores and 5,000 staff after Boots purchased a controlling share in D&A. Boots Opticians, combined with the old D&A, has become a large franchiser in the sector with 183 franchisees. 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