Glasses raised toa century

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY: Lex Grocott followed in family footsteps to become an optometrist. This month he celebrates 100 years of Grocotts in optometry.

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When Harold Grocott, a chemist and businessman, bought an optometry shop in Hamilton in 1910, he started an enduring family tradition.

This month his grandson, Lex Grocott, celebrates the centenary of Grocotts in optometry and a family business which grew from small premises in Victoria St to become the Anglesea Eye Care Centre – part of Anglesea Clinic – on Thackery St.

"It has seen many name changes over the years but there has always been a Grocott involved," Lex Grocott said.

Mr Grocott entered the family optometry business in 1961, working with his father, the late Eric Grocott, for about three years.

However, Lex Grocott's reign has spelled the end of an era.

While he is still there he no longer owns the business, having sold it several years ago when it became clear the next generation of Grocotts was not interested in optometry.

"My children are following a range of delightful careers," he said.

The business has seen a number of changes.

Mr Grocott has had to re-train about five times during his career with the advent of different types of contact lenses, new technologies and the many links between health and sight.

"When my grandfather started, the emphasis was on finding the lens which would make you see clearly... now it's also on healthy eyes."

Over the years Mr Grocott developed a passion for helping people with chronic, low-vision eye diseases, such as macular degeneration which affects the area of central receptors in the eye causing a hole in the centre of the field of vision.

While optometry, "like all medicine these days", was a business, there needed to be a blend of care and product, he said.

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