Expanding optical chain Specscart has opened a concept flagship store in Bury, describing it “as cool as an Apple store”. The description is apt as core to the group’s expansion plans for 2025 includes entry into the US market.

Founded by Sid Sethi, Specscart now has three stores across the Greater Manchester region and sales last year grew to more than £3 million, he told BusinessLive.

Now the company has opened a concept store in its home town of Bury that it says is also “browsable as [bookstore] Waterstones and quirky as an independent boutique”.

The Union Street store is four times the size of the existing store, featuring every pair of glasses in the 1,000-plus Specscart collection, with shoppers able to order straight from their smartphones.

​The store’s £100,000 transformation also showcases the history of the Union Street building, with original features including decorative ceiling plasterwork and with a mural installed about the history of the building.

Sethi said: “Our new store looks nothing like the clinical, old-fashioned and quasi-medical opticians of yesterday. We want people coming in for a browse, a try on and a chat just like they’d do in Zara, Gym Shark or JD Sports… we want customers coming in to store and trying loads of different pairs on like they might with trainers in the Nike store.”

He added: “Shopping for glasses should be all about fun, fashion and creating the perfect look for you and not just about sight correction.”

Specscart says it is set for a year of growth, with a new website set to launch, its optical lab now operating until midnight to meet demand, and with expansion to the US planned.