SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA · FY1991–PRESENT · ILLINOIS
Pearle Vision Center franchise in Illinois: what the public record shows
Franchisees of Pearle Vision Center in Illinois have taken 34 SBA loans since 1991 (average $275,688), and of the 28 loans whose story has ended, 3.6% were charged off — versus 6.6% for Pearle Vision Center nationally and 14.8% across all rateable franchise brands.
Loans in IL
34
Resolved
28
Local charge-off
3.6%
National charge-off
6.6%
Source: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA files (data.sba.gov), borrower state = IL. Charge-off rate = charged-off ÷ (charged-off + paid-in-full); open loans excluded. A local rate is published only when the resolved cohort clears our floor.
Businesses in this industry
1,176
statewide, all operators
Per 100k residents
9.3
national 11.6
Versus the country
-20%
thinner
Every business in Pearle Vision Center's industry operating in Illinois — franchised and independent — from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (2023), against 2024 population estimates. Counter-intuitively, density is not a warning: across 198 brand-state cells in our loan data, the densest quartile charges off at 5.6% versus 18.1% in the thinnest. A crowded market is usually proven demand; an empty one is often empty for a reason.
| System | Loans in IL | Local charge-off | Units in IL |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Nutrition Center | 8 | thin | — |
| Healthsource Chiropractic | 8 | thin | — |
| HEALTH MART | 7 | thin | 81 |
| Medicine Shoppe | 7 | thin | — |
| THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) | 6 | thin | — |
| Medicap Pharmacy | 5 | thin | — |
Same sector, same state, same public records — how Pearle Vision Center compares to the systems a buyer in Illinois would actually be choosing between. Local rates under 10 resolved loans are marked thin, not hidden.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Pearle Vision Center's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →