Optician takes a fresh look at itself in the mirror

A St Leonards opticians is celebrating business success after taking a long, hard look at itself.

Barraclough and Stiles on London Road, St Leonards, took advice from local advisor Jonathan Winchester at Shopper Anonymous, and have undertaken a 70,000 pound refit of the store.

Now the shop - one of six in the Sussex-based Barraclough and Stiles chain - has seen sales increases of five per cent last year.

"We've had a complete refit of the store," a company's director, Jeremy Heynes, said. "Part of it was because it needed a facelift, and we did that off our own back.

"But we also saw Jonathan Winchester give a talk at a conference, and that was an incentive. Now we seem to have turned a corner, and business does seem to be on the up."

Jeremy, 41, said Barraclough and Stiles has also spent money on a new computer system and technology, and has taken advantage of locally offered training, such as mystery shopping feedback, and management business monitoring.

The company started in St Leonards and celebrated its 50th anniversary last year - and now has seven staff at that branch as well as stores across the county including Battle, Bexhill, Seaford and Polegate.

The opticians also took marketing advice from locally-based Alan Foster, who advised them to take photographs of their products in the Sussex area, for advertising and marketing purposes.

"We are a local opticians, for local people," Jeremy said, "And that's the message we want to put across." For more information visit Barraclough and Stiles website.

For more about Shopper Anonymous's services go to Shopper Anonymous website.

22 Feb 2008