A GORSEINON woman who became one of the youngest Specsavers store owners in Wales in 2010 has celebrated her 10th anniversary as joint store partner.
Sarah Thomas was only 24 when she completed Specsavers’ pathway course, a 24-week programme to train employees to become joint venture partners, in May 2010, three years after she joined the High Street-located store.
Fast forward a decade and Morriston-born Ms Thomas, now 34, is at the helm of a store which currently tests 170 people a week. Since her directorship, she has helped increase the number of test rooms from one to three, as well as spearheaded a £100,000 investment including a hospital-grade optical coherence tomography (OCT) machine. An OCT scan can detect eye conditions such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration up to four years sooner than a standard eye test.
In line with the arrival of the innovative technology, Ms Thomas completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Retina. The course focused on the use of OCT machines and advanced macular conditions, which has enhanced her knowledge of common eye conditions to help screen, refer and treat her customers.
To mark her tenth anniversary, she was joined in-store by colleagues and presented with a long service award and a bottle of champagne by the regional relationship manager for Specsavers, Mark Witherspoon.
Ms Thomas says: ‘My father and grandfather are from Gorseinon so I’m proud to have local roots here, not only to provide a vital service in the community, but also to create job opportunities in the area. It’s been fantastic to see this store develop over the last 13 years since I’ve joined, and I have enjoyed being able to help make it an opticians that Gorseinon residents can be proud of.
‘We are fortunate to have nurtured a family environment at the store, and I see my colleagues show kindness and compassion to our customers daily. It’s a privilege to be part of such a warm and hard-working team, which I’m especially grateful for amid a global pandemic.’
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