Specsavers marks Cardiff milestone

L-R: Amy Nash, Dame Mary Perkins, James Deavall, Clare Corcoran and Mathew Thomas

Specsavers is marking 40 years in Cardiff with a £1.1m investment, opening a new practice in St Mellons and completing a major refurbishment of its flagship Queen Street practice.

To celebrate the milestone, Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder of Specsavers, visited Cardiff to officially open the Queen Street practice.

The new St Mellons practice comes following a £500,000 investment and has created nine new jobs, including two optometrists and a dispensing optician. The 1,800 square foot retail space at District Centre features four test rooms, including space for audiology hearing checks and wax removal.

Clare Corcoran, optometrist director and Specsavers’ chair of chairs in Wales, said: “We’re thrilled to be in St Mellons – it’s a location we’ve wanted to be in for a long time, so it’s fantastic to see the practice open its doors.”

Meanwhile, the Queen Street practice has undergone a £600,000 transformation, giving it a fresh new look, complete with Scandinavian-style wood finishes, digital display screens and a uniquely designed Cardiff skyline feature wall. The refurbishment has upgraded its 11 optical test rooms, added a fourth optical coherence tomographer machine and created a new contact lens facility.

Locally owned by directors Clare Corcoran, Amy Naish, James Deavall and Mathew Thomas, the Queen Street practice employs more than 50 staff and serves thousands of patients across Cardiff.

James Deavall, retail director across the six Specsavers stores in Cardiff and Penarth, added: “Reaching 40 years in Cardiff is a huge milestone, and I’m so proud that we’re marking it with major investments in our stores and people. Our focus has always been on making high-quality care accessible to everyone, but this milestone is also about giving back to the communities that have supported us for the last four decades – by creating jobs, developing local talent and ensuring customers receive the very best care close to home.”

Specsavers also recently celebrated being ranked in World’s Best Workplaces for the second year in a row, placing 12th. Specsavers was chosen from organisations that took part in Great Place to Work’s employee survey process; with more than nine million responses it represents 25 million employees worldwide.