This month marks a huge milestone in the history of Bill Evans Optometrists. July 1996 was the month that the former Davey & Tobin Optometrists (now Davey & Associates) opened their practice on Birtwill Street, and I was made practice manager. I even helped in fitting out the practice within shop 4 of the then newly constructed “Coolum Central” building at 11-13 Birtwill Street, the same shop where Bill Evans Optometrists operates from today.
Davey & Tobin became the first lessee in the building, with Brian Davey choosing shop 4 because of its visibility while driving down Birtwill Street after turning in from the David Low Way.
From 1996 to 2002 the practice was run part time and I was consulting two to three days a week. Around this time I also practised in Maroochydore, Noosa Heads, Kawana, Currimundi and Nambour. I took a break from the Sunshine Coast from 1998 to 2000, during which time I worked in Fremantle and Bunbury in Western Australia.
After continuing to grow the Davey & Associates Coolum Beach practice, I purchased it in 2003, changing the name to Bill Evans Optometrists. It has been operating as a full time practice ever since.
Other shops within “Coolum Central” have come and gone, but Bill Evans Optometrists is the only one to have survived and prospered from the very beginning, and now celebrates twenty years on Birtwill Street.
I wish to thank the people of Coolum Beach and the surrounding areas for their ongoing support and loyalty, and I will continue to provide excellent service to the community for many years to come.
-Bill Evans
