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Dispensing optician Frances Duncan must be a bit of a visionary. How else to explain her rise to the top as managing director of Duncan and Todd Opticians, a business started in Peterhead by Norman Duncan and Stewart Todd in 1972. Today, it has 23 retail practices from Wick to St Andrews, as well as a corporate division which provides occupational eye care with an average of 30,000 DSE sight tests being carried out across the UK. She is aiming for a £10.5million turnover this year. It all began for Frances, when the 20-year-old student pitched up on April Fool’s Day in 1984, at 4 Belmont Street, Aberdeen, for a pre-registration year with Duncan and Todd. “From the start I loved the atmosphere at the firm and am proud of the fact that we have kept that good spirit in our branches,” she said.
buyout with colleague Maria Gilmour in 2008. “We currently have 200 staff and many of our managers completed their training at the original branch in Peterhead,” said Frances. “Our business is complex where we have to get the right mix on both our professional services, which these days include a health check as well as prescribing for corrective spectacles. Alongside this we work hard to ensure the branches have a range of products to suit every style and budget. We also have our own ISO 9001 accredited manufacturing laboratory which was established in 1976 with the primary aim of manufacturing spectacles for local Duncan and Todd practices. This enables us to control the high standards and service our patients have come to expect from Duncan and Todd.”
The elegant Frances commutes to Aberdeen from her cottage home in Strathdon where she lives with her daughter Josie, 17, son Norman, 15, and husband Eric. She also has a house in the family heartland of Donegal, where she visits frequently to catch up with her ever growing family who still live in the area.
Frances progressed through the ranks, becoming managing director in 1996 and completing a management
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