EYECARE on Q was named this year's Queanbeyan 'Business of the Year' on Saturday night, and owner Carolyn Galloway credits a strong customer focus and an elegant new shop front as contributing to their success.
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The awards dinner was a who's who of Queanbeyan business, with over 100 people attending the event at The Q.
Ms Galloway said she was blown away to win the biggest gong of the night."It was a lovely evening. The food was lovely and it was well organised, and it was really nice to see Queanbeyan coming out to support each other," she said.
"We were very honoured, surprised and pleased to win."
Eyecare on Q has been part of the Queanbeyan business scene for a decade now, although Ms Galloway took over the practice in her own right in 2007.
Along with colleague Angelina Collier, the two ladies work tirelessly to help service the optometry needs of the Queanbeyan community, but also cater to clients from Canberra and the South Coast.
In her submission to the Business Awards judging panel, Ms Galloway said she emphasised the business' strong customer focus.
"I pointed out that a lot of our patients are referred to us from outside the Queanbeyan area. So I think we do good things for the local community in terms of people comimg from Canberra or the South Coast to come and see us and then hopefully use other local businesses while they're here.
"And I think we make an extra effort to help people. Angelina in particular is very good at dropping people's glasses off to them on the way home from work, or staying back late if people need to come and pick their contacts or something. So I think they were probably the things the judges were looking for," she said.
Also impressing the judges was the practice's stylish, modern fit-out, an investment Ms Galloway made into the business when they moved next door to the City link Plaza in December 2011.
"When we moved we made a conscious effort to go much more upmarket, because we thought that was an endorsement of our commitment that there's money out there in Queanbeyan, you just need to persuade people to spend it here in Queanbeyan, and not go over the border," she said.
"Quite a few people, particularly from Canberra, said 'don't you think that's a bit courageous for Queanbeyan?'
And I said "No. I have confidence that people in Queanbeyan will support business if you give them a quality product."
