Asda has announced a substantial investment in its UK stores over the next year. This marks the supermarket's first major investment since it spent £12 million on upgrading supermarkets across Yorkshire.
Asda has announced that it will invest £2.5 million into its opticians network, which includes upgrading physical locations and enhancing staff training and development. The supermarket has over 12,000 stores across the country, with 156 optical units operating in its larger supermarkets.
The announcement was made at Asda's Opticians' annual conference last week, where the company shared its plans to improve training and development for clinical store teams, in order to refresh their "knowledge and strengthen their confidence when dealing with customers and new products", reports The Grocer.
Asda also said it will double the intake of optician apprentices as part of the move.
The supermarket already operates the second-largest optical business in the UK. To oversee its major overhaul, Asda has promoted the regional manager for its healthcare business in the North, Joe Huntford, to head of optical services and lead on the development.
Mr Huntford said: "Asda Opticians has a clear strategy to continue growing, and through our continued investment in our facilities and colleague development, our focus remains on delivering accessible, high-quality, great-value eyecare for every patient who walks through our doors."
Over the next year, Asda is expected to refit 18 of its 156 optical units and upgrade diagnostic equipment across the network, including the introduction of a new optical coherence tomography (OCT) and new pre-test technology.
Mr Huntford emphasised that the annual conference was about "looking ahead - celebrating the strengths of our optical community, while setting clear ambitions for the future."
*** Ensure our latest news headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings. ***
