A NEWPORT opticians is celebrating 25 years in business this month.

Specsavers was opened on Newport’s High Street in 1988 by Leighton Griffiths, who left the store only 18 months ago.

Since 2003 Jason Williams has owned and operated the Specsavers store in Newport, however, he has not always held the role of store director. Back in 1991 he started his career as a Specsavers employee and worked under the management of Mr Griffiths for 12 years.

It was in 2003 that Jason became a partner with Mr Griffiths. When Mr Griffiths left the business last year, both Craig MacKenzie and Andrew Bowers came on board and joined Mr Williams as joint store directors.

The store has grown significantly over the last 25 years. When the opticians first opened its doors the workforce consisted of one optometrist and five support staff.

Now the Newport site has six consulting rooms, six optometrists, one full-time contact lens optician, and 35 support staff, as well as the three store directors.

Jason said: "We are very proud as a team to be celebrating 25 years in business and I am delighted to say that I have been here for 22 of them. It is a great achievement for the store and we would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to our customers who have remained loyal. They have been extremely supportive of our store for many years, and without them we wouldn’t be here and celebrating such a huge milestone.

"It has been a fantastic number of years with various staff passing through the doors over that time. I am delighted to now be running both this site and the new store in Spytty Retail Park along with Craig and Andrew.

"We are looking forward to another 25 years with excitement and enthusiasm. We have remained committed to Newport City Centre, and we are looking forward to the completion of all the new business developments in the coming years."

Over the last 25 years the store has helped to train many employees from the local area to receive nationally recognised qualifications. At present there are nine employees currently in training for further qualifications in optics such as becoming a fully trained optometrist, contact lens optician, dispensing optician, audiologist and optical assistant.

The Newport store has always invested heavily in the latest technology in order to keep the business a high street leader in optics. Currently the practice is working closely with the NHS in Wales to offer some enhanced services, previously dealt with by GP's and hospitals, in order to reduce waiting times for patients and costs to the NHS.

The store is always keen to involve itself in the community and regularly raises money for well-known local charities through sponsorship of local sports clubs, as well as having good links with Newport County FC as its official 'Community Partner' and the Gwent Dragons through their sponsorship of the RaboDirect Pro12 Referees.

Specsavers, Newport, is pleased to have experienced customer service growing from strength to strength over the last 25 years, with the store accumulating a variety of awards along the way.

Big wins include ‘Best Dispensing Practice in the Region’, and ‘Best Practice for Community Involvement’. Newport Specsavers is also one of a handful of stores in South Wales that has been recognised as a Dispensing Centre of Excellence and carries the ‘Investors in People’ status, in recent years.