Mary Perkins 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 Cardiff, she met Doug Perkins, whom she would later marry. The couple established their first business in Bristol in the 1960s. This was a chain of opticians around Bristol, which they
138 Mary Street, Brisbane and from that time the Perkins operations were gradually moved from the city to the Castlemaine site at Milton. In 1937, fire severely damaged the main Perkins complex opposite. Only this building, and the former stables at 124 Mary Street, survive from what was once a large inner city industrial complex. In 1943, the building was sold to Alfred Lawrence & Co Ltd, manufacturing chemists. Alfred Lawrence & Co Ltd retained ownership of the building until 1977. The storehouse is a small commercial building and store located at 138 Mary Street nearby to Perkins Stables and Mooneys Building with Harolds