Yahoo News I visited Birmingham Bullring and squealed when I saw the 'Dragons' Den' store that opened quietly
I was mooching through the Bullring this week, doing my regularly scheduled 'nosy parker' activities (mostly shoving my face up against the window to see if Pop Street is ready, to be honest) when I noticed something that made me squeal with delight. There's only a few instances in which I will shriek: One is when there's a good veggie option on a menu, and the second in when I know that my days of driving to Milton Keynes are over.
Earlier this year, that's exactly what I did. I'd heard of a new glasses company called PopSpecs that not only offered unusual, quirky and characterful frames, but they did so for just £75 and with a 20 minute turn-around.
Bored of forking out for expensive, designer frames when I don't bother with designer in any other part of my life, and over the super dull inexpensive alternatives at my regular opticians, I needed something fun. So I got in the car and made a beeline for Milton Keynes where I picked up my big chunky new glasses with plenty of change left over from a ton to cover petrol.
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I'd first heard of the business after they'd featured on Dragons' Den, that TV show where Peter Jones tells you if your idea is crap or not. PopSpecs was deemed not crap, and the dragons coughed up £75,000 to get them started.
The kiosk opened in Merry Hill earlier this year and I made a mental note to zip over and see what fun frames they had in the new year. Seeing it, through my PopSpecs no less, outside Next on the Selfridges side of the shopping centre, really made my day.
Sure, some of them look the kinds of frames you can get on those cheap online retailers, but I just feel better sitting down with a human and having them measure the distance between my pupils and asking how they feel on my face and behind my ear. Trying things on is fun too, especially considering they have some ace frames I'd never risk buying online; ones that look straight from Beetlejuice or red glitter ones like something from Wicked.
After all of the fanfare of recent Bullring openings, PopSpecs slipped in the door silently to take up its new space. But of all the new shopping centre launches, this was the only one I jumped for joy to see!
