Award In Sight for 2016

This week some exciting news arrived at Valli HQ, we have only gone and been shortlisted for the Fantasic Media ‘Business of the Year’ at the 2016 Huddersfield Examiner Business Awards – How Fabulous!
We are not too unaccustomed to the odd accolade and have had some success in previous years.
In 2012 our MD Moin Valli at the tender age of 35, won the Fantasic Media ‘Young Business Person of the Year’ at the Huddersfield Examiner Business Awards.

Then in 2013 we won the ‘Business Excellence Award’ at the national Optician Awards and ‘Company of the Year’ at the national Association of Optometrists Awards.

We were also a finalist in the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award at the 2013 Halifax Courier Awards.
In 2015 Optician Awards we were finalists in the ‘Independent of the Year’ and ‘Enhanced Services of the Year’.  In November 2015 we were awarded the HTFC Shooting Star Award which recognises excellence in the local area.

So now the countdown begins until the glittering awards ceremony at the John Smith Stadium on the 3rd November where the winner will be announced. Win or lose, just to be a finalist in this award for us is such a great achievement. How far we have come in the last 10 years when Moin and I having just got married bought our first business together taking over the 3 Hampshire Opticians practices in Lockwood, Honley and Meltham. Since then we have settled in Huddersfield, raising our 3 children here and our little group of practices and just 5 staff has grown to the 14 strong group we are today. We are now one of the largest independent optical groups in the uk and employ over 70 staff.

From taking over the Hampshire Opticians practices in 2005, our optical group has grown steadily through acquisition and new ventures into the Corporate market.  Our biggest acquisition was in 2015 when we took over the Mertons group, a group of 7 practices across the Northwest. The group had a lot of symmetry with the Valli group as by then we were also a group of 7 practices across Yorkshire. They were very similar in their ethos of providing excellent customer care but also the very latest in technology and eye care.

It was a big move venturing across the other side of the Pennines, as being a Yorkshire lass I was always told “tha should never go there” but it has been helped greatly by the Mertons senior management team. Christine Wrenn is the executive director for the Merton group and has been with the group for over 40years. She runs a tight ship and is incredibly focused and driven. The Mertons group had been established a lot longer than the Valli group so the combination of the Mertons group experience and our modern outlook and creative energy has been a great success.

Going forward we are always looking at expansion, more acquisitions and other new and exciting ways to develop our business.
Last month Moin visited an Optical trade show in Paris to look at some of the new products and technology available. We are very excited that we will soon be launching bespoke eyewear tailored to an individuals facial features using 3D scanners and printers. This is something Moin and I discussed with the University of Huddersfield as a concept a few years ago when 3D printing technology in Optometry was in its infancy. We are always happy to embrace new technology and always excited to offer our patients the very latest and highest quality products.
Let’s see what the next 10 years will bring!
Rachel Valli