Award-winning Corby optician re-opens refurbished store with celebration
An award-winning Corby optician has re-opened her refurbished Boots store with a celebration for customers and staff.
Franchisee of the practice in the town centre’s Corporation Street Mrs Kaajal Pandit welcomed Cllr Callum Reilly to cut the ribbon – his final appointment as mayor of Corby.
Mrs Pandit has been at the helm for more than 15 years, taking over the Donald and Aitchinson store rebranding and refitting it into a Boots Opticians.
She said: “We had a fantastic day. Officially re-opening the practice was Callum Reilly who is also one of my patients which made it even more special. I also had the amazing Mark McLaughlan playing the bagpipes to celebrate the re-opening, who was fabulous.”
Mrs Pandit began at Boots Opticians 29 years ago as a 16-year-old Sunday girl.
She said: “This inspired me to become an optometrist and I went on to study optometry at university while still working weekends and holidays in many different Boots Opticians practices in the Midlands.
"My career progressed, reaching my goal as a Boots Opticians franchise partner 15 years ago.”
In 2023, she was named as the Boots Opticians Franchisee Champion for British Franchise Association (BFA) .
She said: “I am incredibly proud of my wonderful team I have built – Emma, Leo, Lois and Zia – and the business we have developed together. Their dedication and support has enabled me to have a thriving community based practice and I thank them all. Especially my assistant manager Emma who has been on this journey with me since day one when I first took over the practice.
“No business can thrive without the support of their local community and I am very lucky to have a very loyal patient base, most of whom have been patients of mine since I took over this practice and some of whom have followed me from the previous Boots Opticians practices I have worked in.
“This is what drives me to keep going, my patients, who are at the heart of my business and I really appreciate their support. I love coming into the practice because of this and they are literally like family to me.”
Last month she won ‘Woman Franchisee of the Year UK 2026’ in the Empowering Women in Franchise (Ewif) Awards that celebrate the success of women in the UK across all different franchise industries.
She said: “I am honestly so grateful and humbled to be awarded this accolade. This really is the highlight of my career journey and I am so thankful to EWiF for awarding me this honour.
“I am lucky to have a wonderful support network with my family, both sets of parents and my amazing husband Dharmesh Pandit and our wonderful daughters Raeya and Siyana. Dharmesh has been my rock and has always supported me to push me to believe in myself and achieve all my goals and aspirations. Balancing family life and growing the business would not have been possible without them.
“My vision has always been to give my patients the best possible practice and I am very proud of our new look store. I would love for everyone to come visit the practice as we will always give our patients our best possible care.”