Pictured from left, Tim Eagle, dispensing optician Michelle Urquhart, Julie Eagle and Mark Eagle with EIT Marketing Director Brenda Chapman.

Winners of the EIT-sponsored Excellence in Professional Services category in the Hastings City Business Awards, Visique Shattky on Russell Optometrists went on to claim the event’s supreme title – for the third time in 15 years.

The optometrists won the top trophy at the inaugural awards and then again two years later.

The business has had a succession of father and son optometrist owners since establishing in Hawke’s Bay over a century ago – Ernest Shattky and his son Derek, Neil Donaldson and his son Phil and now Mark Eagle and his son Timothy.

At the gala awards function staged on July 22 at the Hawke’s Bay Opera House, EIT Marketing Director Brenda Chapman presented the trophy for Excellence in Professional Services to the business’s current directors, Mark and Tim Eagle and Phil Donaldson, and practice manager Julie Eagle.

The wife of Mark and mother of Tim, Julie says winning both the category and supreme awards was a fantastic boost for the business – especially in such tough times.

“It’s not taken for granted.  The optometric business landscape has changed incredibly in the last few years and we have had to be innovative to keep ahead.  Developing new niches is exciting, however, and it has kept us motivated.”