Located on the South Wales coast, Swansea is further west than Cardiff and Newport, commanding its own space and creating its own culture from the other big Welsh cities.
Henry Evans, dispensing optician at Stephen Evans Optometrists, says Swansea is a ‘really nice and vibrant area to live and work in’. Henry, who has lived in Swansea his entire life and is the son of the eponymous Stephen Evans, has noticed a change in patient demographics over the years. He says, ‘we used to get older patients, your typical over 60s, but since more businesses have been coming to the city, the age of our customers has also come down’.
Evans identifies not only a shift in the city’s fortunes recently, but also the type of frames his customers are looking for. As a DO he sees more people interested in ‘round plastic and clear frames’ and notes that ‘people are starting to come away from the high-street brands and are instead going for quality over brand name’.
Although there is ‘always competition from the multiples’, Evans says the practice’s emphasis on ‘quality over quantity and our focus on customer care’ means they are doing quite well. He says dispensing sales over the past five years are up and the business is prospering.
Confirming the experience of Evans is Sherwyn Miller, practice manager at the Optical House in the north of the city, who agrees that ‘plastic, more geeky frames have been very popular over the past 18 months’.
Miller has worked in Swansea for the best part of three decades and says it can sometimes be ‘challenging’ due to economic circumstances. She recently went into a three-way partnership that took over operations at the Optical House.
Miller says that prior to the take-over in July, the business had a ‘good reputation’ but, due in part to the health of the previous owner, ‘it hadn’t grown much over the past few years’.
Now, the team are looking to expand on their customer base through a social media campaign and focusing on their service, which they hope will boost their reputation by word of mouth.
It also has an on-site glazing lab which is operated by an ‘extremely experienced’ technician.
The practice is located in a Swansea suburb called Manselton, which Miller says ‘poses its own challenges’. However, she believes that location, coupled with an ability to compete with the only nearby multiple – a Boots opposite – means they can expect to do well in the future.
Who’s in town
Total: 11
Independents: 7
Multiples: 4
Average costs
The price of an eye exam in Swansea ranges from £10 to £56, at an average cost of £25.60.
Population - see pie chart
Population: 147,049
Community eye care
According to Optometry Wales, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg health board has community eyecare pathways in Optometric Advising, Workforce Training Data, Eye Health Examinations and Low Vision Services.
Health and affluence
- The average house price in Swansea is £177,166 (Zoopla), compared with a UK average of £225,621 (Land Registry, 2018)
- The average salary in Swansea is £21,501, compared with a UK average of £27,271 (Payscale, 2018)
- In NHS programme budgets, the combined spend on problems of vision in Abertawe Bro Morgannwg UHB is £21.9 million, or £42 per capita.
- In Swansea, it is estimated that 10,680 people are at risk of or living with sight loss due to the early stages of AMD.
Fact file
• The Gower Peninsula was the first Area of Outstanding Beauty to be designated, in 1956, and is one of only five in Wales.
• Swansea City Football Club was the first Welsh team to be promoted to the English Premier League in 2011.
• Swansea is the second cleanest city in the UK, but it is also the wettest according to the Met Office.
• Award winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (pictured) was born and raised in Swansea.
• Swansea was nicknamed ‘Copperopolis’ in the 18th and 19th century due to the huge volume of the metal manufactured in the city.
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