Premier Retail

Leightons Opticians

Leightons Opticians
Written by Roma Publications

A new venture for Leightons Opticians

Leightons Opticians

Project Burgundy encompasses a plan to revamp Leightons Opticians and Hearing Care stores throughout the South of England. The project commenced three years ago and is roughly 70% complete, with an aim to finish some time by the end of 2017.

A huge investment, the aims behind the project were to eliminate the traditional design and its original burgundy branding colour within all the stores, replacing them with a more vibrant fuchsia colour to create a fresh, minimalist modern look that aims to be more inviting to customers whilst  presenting the products well.

Ryan Leighton, CEO at Leightons Opticians and Hearing Care, told Premier Retail:

“We carried out a workshop about three years ago and the customers gave us feedback, commenting on the appearance of our stores back then, which was quite dark with burgundy colours and not particularly inspiring. The feedback was quite unanimous so it made me realise that we needed to refurbish our 34 stores.

“Three years ago I went to Munich and met with these German designers who carry out great projects all over Germany, and subsequently they came over to the UK and visited ten of our different stores. They then came up with the concept design, which we put into our Putney store – that was around two years ago. The space included a light and airy design with exposed brick, and an urban, London vibe with lots of eclectic materials.

“We have now got to the store at Reading where we have employed a UK designer to take the original concept and give it an overhaul, making it even more cool and modern.”

The Reading project began in January 2016 and concluded at the end of March, and since then has received some excellent feedback from customers.

Project Burgundy encompasses a concept that focuses the stores around amazing products and highly-skilled opticians and optometrists who spend a lot of time with people, guiding them to choose the best product.

Ryan added:

“We also moved location, as previously we were situated on the outskirts of Reading and now we are in a more central location which is far better in terms of footfall. We don’t have allocated parking, however it doesn’t seem to be a problem as people can use the major carparks so it’s just as accessible as before.”

A feature in itself, the entire store has been built in such a way that it has provided a totally new look and feel to the space, offering a modern opticians store that conveys quality, hospitality and style.

The shades of burgundy have been replaced with clean white display walls amongst components of the brick, complemented by stylish oak flooring, allowing the product to shine. Floating displays in the centre of the floor also presents the different merchandise with pendant lighting suspended above the displays, producing a soft glow adding to the appeal.

One feature that stands out is the continental style dispensing desk for when customers pay a visit to get their glasses fitted.

Ryan commented:

“We have copied an idea from Germany – they use a long style white dispensing desk which can see multiple families with three different dispensing opticians sat at the desk – this gives us quite a unique feel as despite it not being a new concept worldwide, you don’t see that in UK opticians.

In terms of the delivery we have successfully attracted new customers and can see the difference in their spending pattern, with more people buying quality eyewear and customers being drawn to, and engaging with the new branding which is great. The redesign seems to have set the tone for the customer’s improved experience and this is what we set out to achieve.”

Leightons Opticians

Jorgensen Ltd

Jorgensen Ltd specialises in shop fitting, refurbishment, and decoration works for use within the construction industry. Operating since 1990, the company’s philosophy is to provide a high quality, professional service for all its customers and has worked with clients including The Body Shop, Harrods, Arcadia Group, Argos, ATS Euromaster and TK Maxx, amongst others.

Jorgensen Ltd regularly delivers fit-out schemes for new stores, in addition to fit-out works for existing stores. Most recently, Jorgensen Ltd was appointed as the main contractor on the Leighton’s Opticians project.

Director of Jorgensen Ltd, Mike Clay, said:

“We work with Leighton’s on a regular basis and see ourselves as part of their team. We get involved with their projects at an early stage, offer advice and recommendations, assist in design and layouts and follow the project through to a satisfactory conclusion.”

Mike added:

“At Jorgensen Ltd we pride ourselves on our ability to provide a good standard of work for a fair price. We are approachable, we always maintain a non-contractual, easy-going relationship with our clients and most of our work is repeat business.”

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Roma Publications