Behind each of your favourite stores are passionate, hardworking people who welcome you to take part in their story, every time you walk in. Here, we introduce you to the faces behind some of your favourite Stockland retailers. Learn about the history of their business, the products and services they offer and what they love about their local community.
Meet Kuldeep, Specsavers
1. Tell us about your store?
Specsavers Wetherill Park has been in this shopping centre providing eye care for 9 years this coming July. We have a large team that boasts a wide range of experience with multiple qualified resident Optometrists, Dispensers and Optical Assistants. We are a friendly team that work well together, who are consistently learning new methods to improve our skills so we can provide the best eye care for the local community. The easiest way to find us is to look for our iconic big green pillars!
2. What is your current role and main responsibilities?
I’m the Optometrist Director at Specsavers Wetherill Park. I’m a resident Optometrist who sees patients, helps manage our retail and optometry teams, interacts with customers as well as ensuring we keep our clinic at a high standard.
3. What products, services or experiences do you offer?
We provide a wide range of products and services for all ages and we also have strong partnerships with multiple health fund providers. Our products and services range from spectacles, sports goggles, safety glasses and contact lenses to offering bulk-billed eye tests, diabetes check-ups, foreign body removals (including metal), treatment for eye infections (we have therapeutically qualified Optometrists who are able to prescribe medication), visual field assessments and we have invested in an advanced 3D eye scan machine which helps us to detect a range of eye diseases and changes over time. We have an extensive glasses range with brands like DKNY, Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, HUGO BOSS, Country Road, Superdry and the list goes on. We also have good relationships with our local pharmacies, GP’s and Ophthalmologists, Which enables us to get the best care to our patients in a timely manner.
4. How have you coped with COVID-19 and what are you looking forward to?
COVID-19 has been a roller coaster for all of us and like many of us, growing up I never ever thought of going through a pandemic. I think we have done well as a Nation, sticking to rules and guidelines set by the government and health care regulatory bodies. Helping each other out is a huge part coping with COVID-19 and because of this, Specsavers Wetherill Park never fully closed their doors. We remained open throughout, and continue to remain open. We were the only eye care provider in the shopping centre to remain open and continue to provide urgent and emergency eye care to our community and essential workers. This also allowed us to play our part and reduce the strain on the public health system so that patients did not go to the hospitals and increase the load on doctors, but instead be treated by our health care professionals in store. It was important to us that we remained open to help people in the community who needed eye care the most.
The team are all looking forward to working towards going back to ‘normal’. I suppose it will be the ‘new normal’ as we start returning to some form of routine and normality as the alert levels drop, with rules and restrictions starting to ease. We are looking forward to continuing to provide eye care to the Wetherill Park community and seeing the familiar faces of our returning patients.
5. What is the most rewarding part of your job?
There are many things that are rewarding working as an Optometrist and optical provider. My passion to pursue this career came from wanting to be able to help and improve the lives of patients in an impactful way. The best feeling is when you see the excitement on patient’s face when they come pick up and try their new glasses, especially with children, they just look so happy. It gives me satisfaction to see how thrilled a patient is after you fit them with contact lenses for the first time. They can see clearly for the first time, possibly in their life, without having to use spectacles and this makes them so happy, which makes you feel content being part of that journey with the patient.
6. Why do you think shopping centres are important?
Shopping centres are important as they serve as a local hub for essential products and services. With everything located in the one centre allows easy access for the whole community. This is especially important to those who may not be able to travel as frequently or as far as others due to disability. I regularly see familiar faces when I come into the shopping centre as I’m sure other regular visitors also do. We give each other a friendly wave or smile which brings a sense of community and culture which is supported by the host of events the centre holds including Chinese New Year, Mother’s Day , Santa’s parade and school holiday events.
Team photo (L to R): Melanie Vu, Maryam Hashemi, Anne-Marie Safi, Michael Cai and Kuldeep (Kody) Singh
If you’d like to read more about your most-loved retailers, their products, and the faces behind the businesses, click through to the Retailer Stories page on our Belong hub. There are plenty of stories to share!
