Optica Halperin Ltd. owner and CEO Yaakov Halperin plans to further expand the chain's US operations, dismissing market worries about the difficulties of management from a distance and glasses brand saturation in the US. He added that one of his brothers has moved to the US to manage operations there.
"The idea is exploit the Halperin name and brand awareness in Israel among the haredi (ultra-orthodox) population in Brooklyn. We're now considering the opening of branches in Queens and later in Los Angeles," says Yaakov Halperin.
"Globes": Are Jews your target audience?
Yaakov Halperin: "Yes, exclusively. We only advertise in the Jewish media."
How many branches will you open?
"15, and then we'll sell franchises."
Why do you think you have a chance in the US?
"There are more Jews in the US than in Israel, and even if we saturate the Jewish market we'll have opened a second Israel. We conducted a survey that found that eight of ten US Jews knew that the Halperin brand was related to glasses."
Competition is tough over there.
"Yes. It's a challenge. When you buy pharmaceutical products, you prefer to speak in Hebrew, and everyone speaks Hebrew. There are a lot of Israelis there, and we're currently consolidating our position among them."
In April, Optica Halperin opened two shops in the Bulgarian capital, Sophia. Halperin said, "Bulgaria is a very touristy country. Starting costs are much lower than in Romania or Hungary, so we set up shop in Bulgaria, but we won't continue."
Why not?
"The effort in Bulgaria isn't worth the cost. Opening stores overseas involves flying and management. We see no future there. The future is in the US. We'll probably sell our two Bulgarian stores."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 4, 2009
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