Grafton Optical celebrates 40 years

Grafton Optical is celebrating 40 years in business in 2022, reflecting on its growth as an optical equipment supplier since 1982.

The company now equips hospitals, universities and optical practices.

Speaking of the anniversary, Grafton Optical CEO, David Thickens, said: “Achieving 40 years in business is testament to our fantastic customers and we will continue to put them first, striving to do an even better job for them going forward.”

“We operate in a competitive market place and understand that now more than ever, decisions around expenditure have to be taken with great care,” Thickens added. “Without our customers, we wouldn’t be celebrating 40 years in business this year and we feel a great responsibility to supply our customers with the very best products and services that will serve them well and keep them coming back to us.”

In celebration of the 40 year anniversary, the company has launched an offering for customers for £40 off their online shop throughout February. More information is available on the Grafton Optical website. 

OT heard from Thickens and marketing manager, Kate Nolan, on the key changes the company has introduced, and seen in the profession, over 40 years.

Sharing some of the company’s milestones, Thickens said that expanding its product portfolio to cover optometry and ophthalmology products as a one-stop shop for the industry has been key.

One particular milestone was the launch of Grafton Optical’s online shop in January 2019, with Nolan commenting that “we couldn’t have anticipated” its “huge popularity.”

The company has also supplied to many higher education institutions across the UK. Thickens shared: “Over the last few years we have carried out large scale fit outs at Teesside University, The University of the West of England, The University of the Highlands & Islands, and The University of Central Lancashire.”

He continued: “We were successfully awarded a contract to fully furnish and equip 16 testing rooms plus additional shared learning areas at the University of Huddersfield last year. We were able to source and supply a wide range of equipment, including some lesser known and harder to source items required for teaching in the optometry school.”

Reflecting on the ways the industry has evolved in the 40 years that Grafton Optical has been operating, Thickens and Nolan highlighted the way the traditional optometry role has expanded, including diagnostic services such as audiology, optical coherence tomography, and dry eye.

The digitalisation of equipment has also been a key change, Thickens said, with an example of this being Grafton Optical’s flagship tonometer series from Reichart Technologies; The Ocular Response Analyser G3 with Corneal Hysteresis and the 7CR Auto Tonometer with Corneal Response Technology and IOPcc.

“Adoption of this new technology has really exploded amongst industry leaders and at the UK’s most respected ophthalmology institutions,” he said.

Looking ahead at the trends the company expects to see in optometry in the next year, Nolan highlighted: “A greater importance of the optometrist’s role as part of the general healthcare sector, particularly given our recovery from the pandemic, and with efforts being focused on reducing NHS backlogs and waiting lists.”