It’s been 50 years since the first branch of Duncan and Todd opened within a house in Peterhead.
Fast forward to present day and the optometrist and hearing care specialist now boasts a portfolio of more than 40 stores across the north-east and beyond.
It was Norman Duncan who created the business before being joined by Stewart Todd a year later and the brand was created.
One of the first members of staff to be employed by the fledgling business was local resident Jean McKinnon.
Duncan and Todd opened from house in Peterhead
The 86-year-old spent 25 years with the company and went from being a part-time receptionist to a dispensing optician before retiring in 1997.
Her first role quickly expanded into a full-time position with the opening of five new practices in Banchory, Ellon, Inverurie, Dyce and Aberdeen with Ms McKinnon taking on payroll and book-keeping duties for all six branches.
When she first started at the age of 36, the Peterhead practice was based in a house on Queen Street, with a just brass plaque outside identifying it as the optician, before moving to its current location in Marischal Street where it remains open today.
Ms McKinnon’s role changed when she was given the opportunity to train as a dispensing optician.
Her job was to advise customers on their vision care and to help them choose their glasses and lenses. She was also the buyer who selected the branch’s range of eyewear.
At that time dispensing opticians were a rarity.
Limited options presented challenges
The optician who tested eyes, also dispensed the glasses and busy opticians didn’t have time to devote to helping customers browse through a selection of glasses – even if such a selection had been available – so choices were few.
Those who got glasses through the NHS had an even narrower choice.
It was a scenario Ms McKinnon was very familiar with.
“I have been wearing glasses since I was three,” the mum-of-two said.
“The optician would say to me ‘here are two pairs of glasses suitable for your prescription which will fit you’ and that was my choice.
“Girls got to choose from pink or clear frames and the choice for boys was brown or black. The lack of choice applied to everyone, children and adults and we just accepted that.
“Many people opted to go private if they could afford it, and most of the children had privately-paid glasses with an NHS pair as a spare.”
Changes to NHS criteria meant that fewer people were eligible for free glasses, and with more people going private and opting for non-NHS glasses, the choice of what was available increased significantly.
‘So much was changing for opticians’
The grandma-of-one said: “I just loved the job. Part of the reason was that I started at a very good time for opticians because so much was changing.
“They were improving the lenses – when I started they were all glass, they were heavy, and bifocals were ugly.
“They introduced plastic lenses and just about everyone switched to them because they were lighter and safer and there were more choices.
“It was a pleasure to spend time with people helping them make their choices and it gave me great satisfaction in my work.
“As a glasses wearer myself I had never had a choice before, so I knew exactly how they felt. At that time, we didn’t have the shop displays that there are today, our glasses were displayed in drawers, and I always made sure that there was a good selection in all sizes.”
‘Duncan and Todd was a great place to work’
As Duncan and Todd continued to grow, opening new branches across the country, Ms McKinnon’s job took her to Birmingham for a trade show and to Milan for an optical fair.
She said: “Duncan and Todd was a great place to work, they really invested in their people, and took a personal interest in their staff.
“When my husband Bill was made redundant, they arranged for him to retrain with an optical company and then offered him a job in Peterhead. A very caring thing to do.”
When Mr Duncan and Mr Todd retired in 1996, the business was bought by Frances Rus who originally joined the company as a trainee in the 1980s.
Ms McKinnon said: “Frances made sure it continued to be a great place to work.
“She had a very personal approach and took time to speak to people or call them to let them know how good a job they were doing.
“I think the fact that so many people worked at the company for 25 years or more says a lot about Duncan and Todd and what a great place it was to work.”
50-year anniversary celebrated
A celebration was held at The Sandman Hotel for everyone who was with the company for at least 25 years.
Ms Rus said: “Reaching our 50th birthday is a huge milestone and Duncan and Todd Group is almost unrecognisable from the early days with just one branch in Peterhead.
“However, the values that we held at that time still exist today and we pride ourselves on providing an accessible, personalised, quality service in high streets of towns and cities across the country.
“As we enter a new decade for Duncan and Todd we have made a number of strategic acquisitions and have invested heavily in the new lab which will increase our capacity to manufacture lenses for our branches and clients across the UK.”
Firm has large presence across north-east
The new manufacturing lab, based in Dyce and due to open early next year, represents a major investment in new premises for the group’s manufacturing arm Caledonian Optical.
Duncan and Todd also trade as 20 20 Opticians south of Tayside, as well as retaining names which are well known locally, such as JM MacDonald in the Highlands.
The group has invested in hearing care and now offers this service across Scotland, with free hearing tests and supply, fitting and tuning.
As well as Caledonian Optical, its own dedicated lens manufacturing facility, the group also operates Smart Employee Eyecare (SEE), a corporate eye care offering which provides a simple web-based service to satisfy a company’s legal HSE compliance requirements for employees’ eye care to large public and private sector clients.
Conversation