Just a couple of weeks after celebrating the 5th anniversary of EYES on St Albans opening in Marshalswick, this week sees Jez marking 40 years in the optical industry. St Albans Times asked to find out more so we sat down for a chat about his journey from a Saturday job on St Albans market to where he is now.
40 years in the business Jez, surely you’re not old enough?!
I finished sitting my O Levels in 1983 so you do the maths!
I was working as a petrol pump attendant at the old Jet garage on Holywell Hill and discussing with a friend how I thought it was extremely unlikely that I would get any qualifications at all (I wasn’t an entirely conformist pupil), and a lovely lady walked in and said that her boss was looking for warehousemen for a newly moved optical business on Campfield Road.
This lady got me an interview and whilst my dad thought I was going to be working for a company that did optics for spirits in pubs, I got the job. It had been ‘suggested’ to me by Bob Hawkes, the then deputy head at Verulam School, that being in school wasn’t really for me (the polite way of asking me not to return) so I accepted the job on July 18th, 1983.
So how did you get from that job to where you are now?
In the warehouse, my job was running round picking frames to despatch for orders. Each frame in those days came in five sizes and five colours and for some reason I got an understanding of what a spectacle frame was in terms of size, colour, shape and so on. As a result of my keenness in the warehouse, at the age of 16 just shortly after joining the company, I was sent out as a frame rep – travelling by bus with big cases of frames around Hertfordshire, visiting all the opticians to display the frames and see what they wanted to order. At 17 the company put me through my driving test and I was, as I understand to this day, the youngest spectacle frame rep on the road.
I’d got the retail bug from working on the electrical stall on St Albans market with Tony Sinclair from the age of 14 and fairly soon I realised opticians weren’t the most scintillating of company and I wanted to be serving the public.
The next few years saw me working in variety of optical stores in St Albans, central London, Glasgow and Newcastle – all independent ‘boutique’ style stores that prioritised service and style over everything else.
Eventually I fell out of love with the industry and worked in the oil & gas industry for a few years – but my love of eyewear returned with the opportunity to work for MOSCOT in Soho about 8 years ago. In 2018 I went where no one had been before and opened EYES on St Albans in Marshalswick – fulfilling my dream of owning a store of this name that I’d had when I first started in the optical industry.
The rest as they say, is, well… rock and roll.
It’s all about the experience, isn’t it?
Absolutely. I think those optical practices that embrace, like I do, the individualised service, styling and care are the ones that are going to survive – and thrive, over the next few years. Whilst the current economic situation means that people may be tempted to buy cheaply online, investing in high quality frames, lenses with 2 year manufacturer warranties and free in-house repairs – all styled into confidence boosting glasses in a friendly, community focussed store… well, experience is everything.
All 40 years of it.
EYES on Sunglasses
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