The Eiffel Optic chain of dioptric glasses and contact lenses stores is bankrupt. As Seznam Zprávy pointed out, the company has filed for insolvency, saying it owes more than CZK 86 million and admitting it has no money for January payouts. The beginning of the company’s downfall was thought to be the shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
Eiffel Optic’s sales were still stable in the run-up to the 2019 crash, but since March 2020, when the first lockdown was introduced in the Czech Republic, the company has been gradually going downhill. Inflation and the energy crisis then dealt the final blow.
“The final aspect that finally plunged the debtor into an unsolvable situation was the decline in retail sales of opticianry in 2022, caused by the decline in the market power of the debtor’s customers on the one hand and the steep increase in the debtor’s operating costs, in particular the price of energy, rent, and wages on the other hand,” Eiffel Optic said in a bankruptcy petition filed on Monday, February 13.
The company admitted that it owes CZK 86 036 000 to more than three dozen creditors. Although it has no overdue debts to its employees, it no longer has the funds to pay its wages for January 2023.
Eiffel Optik was founded in 1991. It operates 26 branches throughout the Czech Republic and employs around 150 people.