Roger Cohen sent a message to Stefano Pessina that said:
Dear Stefano,
I believe a good friend of mine Brendan Collins is a business acquaintance of yours, which gave me the idea of contacting you.
I have two Boots Opticians franchise branches in Edinburgh, Cameron Toll which thrives under the Boots banner, and Corstorphine, which really struggles due to Boots Opticians cutting of margins and its low volume.
We have over two years of the five year agreement to run, but would really like to vacate Corstorphine to concentrate on Cameron Toll.
We have made what I believe to be a very fair offer of handing the branch over to Boots, lock, stock and barrel at no cost. This includes all the stock, equipment and customer records. However someone at Boots Opticians is asking for us to also pay the rent to March 2018 which I feel is just not fair. The business model of Boots has changed significantly recently so I don\'t feel I should be held fully responsible for the branch performance.
Also Boots Opticians claim to enrich lives and care for people\'s health.
Their unfair offer to include advance rent to take back the Corstorphine branch is certainly not enriching the life of my kids, wife or even me. It is causing me serious anxiety, which in turn is making my wife ill and my kids suffer.
The person making this offer Has made no consideration whatsoever for the welfare of my family.
We have made a more than fair offer to walk away from the branch for no reimbursement. The branch performance has more to do with the Boots policy of cutting margins. It does not enjoy high volumes such as are required to make a franchise financially rewarding.
All I ask is that my fair offer is reconsidered taking all the above into account.
All I ask is that you reconsider my offer so we can come to a fair and equitable arrangement with both parties taking some responsibility for what\'s happening.
Many thanks in advance for reading this.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards
Roger Cohen
Tel 07710721459
