Optical e-tailer Charlie Temple expands to Belgium and Austria

Charlie Temple, an optical online retailer from the Netherlands, has expanded to Belgium and Austria. For the fast-growing ecommerce scale-up in prescription glasses these are the second and third new market, after it also expanded to Germany last year.

The expansion across Europe follows after GrandVision, a market leader in optical retailing, acquired Charlie Temple at the start of last year.

‘Further expansion is just a matter of time’

It was ecommerce director Jan Cortenbach who shared the news on his LinkedIn profile, saying he has great news for Austrians and Belgians. “Now you can also finally order high-quality affordable prescription eyewear. Made to order at our GlassLab in the Netherlands and delivered to your doorstep in mere days.” He adds that for consumers in the rest of the world looking to order at Charlie Temple, it’s only a matter of time.

How Charlie Temple started

Charlie Temple was founded by entrepreneur Leon Planken in 2016. He started the company after he discovered how expensive it would be to get his son Charlie glasses. He paid over 400 euros and decided it could and should be much cheaper. The online retailer now sells glasses with single vision and multifocal lenses at prices that start at 25 euros.