The Eyes Have It

Luxottica Group, the Milan, Italy-based owner of LensCrafters, announced that net first-quarter sales for its North American subsidiary rose by 2.5 percent and same-store sales for the quarter increased by 2.7 percent. Overall, LensCrafters'operating margin for the quarter improved to 16.5 percent from 15.4 percent for the same period a year ago.

The Cincinnati-based LensCrafters subsidiary operates about 850 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1983, and bought by Luxottica in 1995. The Italian company also owns Ray-Ban and Revo sunglasses through its purchase of Bausch & Lomb's sunglasses division in 1999, and makes designer line glasses, including Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Chanel, Genny, Byblos, Brooks Brothers, Sergio Tacchini, Web, Moschino, Anne Klein, Bulgari, Salvatore Ferragamo and Emanuel Ungaro.