Things Remembered, Now Forgotten

Luxottica Group S.p.A. (Milan, Italy) has sold its subsidiary, Things Remembered (Highland Heights, Mich.), to private equity firms GB Merchant Partners LLC of Boston and New York, an affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group, and Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. (New York) for approximately $200 million.

Things Remembered, a personalized gift retail chain with about 650 stores in the U.S., had been acquired by Luxottica as part of the acquisition of Cole National Corp. (Twinsburg, Ohio) in October 2004. Since the acquisition, Luxottica has managed Things Remembered through a separate corporate structure apart from its eyewear retail business.