Write a comment
Specsavers Newry, situated in Buttercrane Shopping Centre is celebrating caring for the local community’s eyes and ears for 25 years.
Since 1997, the business, which is locally owned and run, has grown from eight employees to a team of 54 today, with directors, Alison Dunne, Sharon Fegan, Michelle Linden and William Stevenson at the helm.
Over the years, the store has been renovated alongside the growth of services offered, which now include eye health services from both adult and children’s eye tests, contact lens services, to an Optical Coherence Tomography scanner in-store plus home eye tests for those who cannot get to the store.
Audiology care services were introduced in 2010, with clinics running on a Tuesday and Thursday with Audiologist Lynn Weatherill, plus a wax removal clinic every other Friday with Becky Wilson.
Around £1m has been invested by the directors over the years to bring these healthcare services to the local community, including four renovations of the store, enabling them to serve around 120,000 long term local customers.
Alison Dunne who opened the store in 1997 commented; “We are incredibly proud of the impact our store has had on the city and local communities. We have provided accessible care from local specialists who are known and trusted here in Newry, we have a unique one-hour service which suits so many people with their busy schedules and that convenience and quality of service keeps them loyal to us.
“Many of our patients have been with us since we opened 25 years ago - we have cared for the eye and ear health of some 25-year-olds who have been visiting us since they were babies! We’ve also been in the very fortunate position to be able to provide potentially lifesaving tests and scans and provide urgent referrals when we detect that something is not quite right. That’s why we are here, and we are very much looking forward to another 25 years of providing care for the people of Newry.”
The store is very much embedded in Newry and the surrounding areas, and over the years has supported several local sports clubs from Down Camogie to St. John Bosco Gaelic Football Club, plus the team has donated thousands of high visibility vests to local primary schools to ensure safety on darker afternoons while also giving their time for educational health talks.
The team has given talks to community groups from The WI to The Men’s Shed, Newry, while fundraising and donating over £20,000 to local charities including PIPS, Action Mental Health, Action Cancer and the Bardet Biedl Society, which supports parents of children and adults who live with this rare syndrome that affects their vision.
Most recently, the store fundraised for Eimear’s Wish, the charity who supported Newry’s Daniel Greer and his family towards successfully finding a stem cell donor for Daniel. A number of the team also joined the stem cell donor register, and presented the charity with a cheque for £1,000.
Sharon Fegan, Retail Director at Specsavers Newry added; “We have a really motivated team who truly care about their patients, our local customers and those charities and groups in the community that we continue to support.
“We recently celebrated our milestone with our customers and shoppers at Buttercrane Shopping Centre. We had cake, treats and buns for our customers to enjoy in-store, while the children were entertained by Olaf from Frozen, and Tinkerbell, who surprised them with selection boxes. It was a fantastic day, thanks to all who joined us for the celebrations.”
The team will also celebrate together where some team members will be honoured for their long-service to the business.
