Praktiker rutscht tiefer in die roten Zahlen – Aktie bricht ein". Focus Money Online. 2012-03-28 . Retrieved 2012-03-28. At first nine prime lenses were available for the new lens mount. They were produced by VEB Pentacon (in particular: VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz, incorporated in Pentacon) and VEB Carl Zeiss Jena. It suggests itself that the lens design of the previous M42-lenses was taken and only the lens mount and the appearance were remade, but that is not entirely true: the Prakticar 2.8/28 e.g. is a redesigned Pentacon 2.8/29, and other redesigned and completely new designed lenses followed. By and by the line-up of lenses increased, also with the support of Japanese and Korean companies. That assistance was necessary to offer zoom lenses, which became more and more popular in those days. Both, Pentacon and CZJ weren't able to produce them in the early 1980ies. In Albania, the first store was opened on October 30, 2009 in Tirana. It was closed on November 30, 2011 due to the restructuring. Weitere Auslandsfilialen der Praktiker-Baumärkte verkauft". finanzen.net. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 . Retrieved 2 May 2015.

In contrast to most of its German competitors, the company grew up by buying up various small DIY chains and building material stores. In addition, there was expansion into the new federal states and other European countries in the 1990s. After Metro AG's withdrawal as shareholder in 2006, the company experienced an existential crisis and posted high losses for years. Despite intensive efforts and considerable financial injections, the attempts to restructure failed. After the German reunification, when the company became independent again, the lenses were branded with "Meyer-Optik" instead of "Pentacon". P.S.:The supervisor suggested to go to Agia Varvara Praktiker (they had the product there), which was a joke to use unknown public transportation for a far distance spot, under the increasing heat . In the early 1990ies, when Carl Zeiss Jena as well as Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz didn't provided lenses for the Praktica B anymore, Samyang from Korea was found as subsequent producer. It is supposable, that the manufacturer of the camera bodies, Jos. Schneider Feinwerktechnik GmbH & Co KG, made that decision. Due to the licensing right the name "Carl Zeiss" was only used in the GDR, socialistic countries and Great Britain. In other countries the lenses were labeled with "aus Jena" (from Jena) instead.Praktiker закрилася в Україні". Асоціація рітейлерів України. 20 April 2017 . Retrieved 23 June 2019. In 1985 the VEB Pentacon was incorporated into the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena, which led to the fact that some lenses produced by Pentacon were labeled with "Carl Zeiss Jena P". With the German reunification in 1990 the situation changed completely. The VEB CZJ was transformed into a GmbH (Ltd. company) and ceased the production of Prakticar lenses, and Pentacon was liquidated. A camera producing part of Pentacon was taken over by Schneider and named "Jos. Schneider Feinwerktechnik GmbH & Co. KG", they produced the Praktica B-series until 2001. The lens producing part, that means VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz, restarted as "Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz GmbH", now an independent company. Their lenses are labeled with "Meyer-Optik Made in Germany". It turned out, that Meyer was not competitive, so it was closed already in 1991.

One hint to identify Prakticar lenses made by Sigma is the use of "~" instead of "-" on some zoom lenses, like 2.8~3.5/28~50. The 24 Praktiker stores in Poland were sold to Papag AG in March 2014. [ citation needed] However the group was declared bankrupted in 2017, and all the stores were closed, [17] part of the former Praktiker stores are now part of the Castorama network detained by Kingfisher. internetworld.de (2016-10-30). "Renaissance im Internet: Das zweite Leben von Praktiker, Hertie und Co". In Moldova, the company had planned to open a store in 2009 in Chişinău, but it was canceled later.Pressearchiv 2014 - Praktiker". Archived from the original on 2014-04-09 . Retrieved 2014-04-09. Praktiker: Fairfax Financial Holding erwirbt Praktiker-Gesellschaft in Griechenland (German)

The three Luxembourgian "bâtiself" stores in Foetz, Strassen and Ingeldorf were sold in October 2013. Now the bâtiself stores were rebranded and are not anymore related to the Praktiker brand. However, there exist Prakticar labeled lenses with Sigma YS-mount, but that mount was already obsolete when the PB-mount was introduced. In 2016 two German businessmen acquired the naming rights and opened under praktiker.de a home improvement online store. [7] Operations [ edit ] Germany [ edit ] E/G=elements/groups, NFD=nearest focus distance [m], FT=filter thread diameter [mm], GA=greatest aperture, B=number of blades, YoP=years of productionIn Ukraine, the first store was opened on November 29, 2007 in Donetsk, three more opened in Lviv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv. The stores were sold on February 11, 2014 to Ukrainian investor Kreston Guarantee Group. [ citation needed] In Turkey, Praktiker initially closed the 9 stores after it failed to find a buyer. [12] Later stores were bought by Uygulama Yapı Marketleri Inc. and were reopened, followed by the opening of new stores. [13] Former subsidiaries [ edit ] In the middle of the 1980ies the appearance of the lenses changed, metal parts like the f-stop ring were replaced by plastic parts, also the rubberization of the focus ring was dropped; the new versions were called "ratio". On some lenses also the nearest focus distance changed.