Two Southland businesses are uniting under one name.

Fiordland Eyecare in Te Anau and Eyeview Optometry in Invercargill, both owned by Daryl Parkes and his wife Pirjo Saastamoinen-Parkes, are being rebranded as Southland Eyecare.

Daryl and his wife set up their practice in Te Anau in 2006, with the help of the Fiordland Health Trust, to bring better eye care into regional areas.

The pair took over Eyeview Optometry in Invercargill in 2015 after working there since 2008.

Pirjo said they decided to rebrand to make running the business easier.

The practices themselves wouldn’t change much at all, she said.

Daryl said running both businesses was a bit like living two lives.

With two houses, two lawns and two businesses it was easy to forget which house had what clothes, but otherwise it was easy, he said.

They decided to keep their practice in Te Anau because they were the only optometrist available to people in the area.

“We wanted to support the people in the area, we have patients who have been coming here for years, it is important they have the same access.”

By Joanna Griffiths, The Southland Times – 09:58, Mar 01 2017

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/89890010/new-name-same-people-for-southland-business