Specsavers has invested £650,000 to relocate its store in Stroud to the Gloucestershire town’s Five Valleys shopping centre.
The optician is set to move a short distance down King Street to open next door to the retail hub’s new £6.5m medical centre.
The company said the new store would allow it to add to its workforce of 25 people, with new jobs created “with more expected to come”.
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As well as eye tests and hearing checks, the 3,300 sq ft store will provide a wide range of optical and audiology services, equipped with seven consulting rooms as well as a sound-proofed audiology booth.
The new store will include new equipment, including two £50,000 medical imaging machines and a £60,000 ultra-wide field camera for eye assessments.
Fit out works have already begun and the store is expected to be open to the public next month. Directors Cobi Williams, Jo Bryan and Riz Choonara will head up the store.
Mr Williams said: “We’re extremely excited about our new space and becoming part of Five Valleys. Our team are incredibly passionate about optics and audiology and I am keen to help build the careers of our new starters. Specsavers offers lots of career progression, and it is amazing to help members of staff develop and grow.”
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Five Valleys is owned and managed by the retail property specialist Dransfield Properties which has invested around £30m to regenerate the complex in Stroud town centre.
James Shepherd, managing director at Dransfield Properties, said: “We are delighted to welcome Specsavers to Five Valleys. The new store looks great and we’d like to wish Cobi, Jo, Riz and the whole team all the very best in their new venture.”
Dransfield said at the start of the year that Five Valleys was close to full occupancy , after “a raft” of new businesses opened there. The centre employs hundreds of people, with office units opening up on site and the town's library relocating there in the spring.