When Cathy Beaulieu opened her store at 2938 Bloor Street West back in 1999 with her brother Tom Giores, she already felt like she was home. Having worked as an optician in the Kingsway for 15 years leading up to going it on her own, Cathy recognized that this was the neighbourhood where her business and her family would flourish. To this day, Tom and Cathy work full time at Beaulieu Vision Care along with Cathy’s daughter, Jennifer, also a licensed optician.
Beaulieu Vision Care is now a staple of this great community, offering unique personal touch optical services to her loyal customers, with specialized contact lens fitting, a wide selection of frames from the hottest designers, high quality, precision-cut lenses and friendly, knowledgeable staff. They are renowned as industry leaders, proven by their award-winning service and longevity in this day and age where small, independently owned businesses don’t always stand the test of time.
Glasses and contact lenses aren’t all they offer, either – there is a licensed optometrist on staff to ensure a one stop shopping experience! You can easily book an appointment on the Beaulieu Vision Care website here https://www.beaulieuvisioncare.com/eye-exams/
Cathy Beaulieu and her family have always been heavily immersed in the Kingsway community, with nearly sixteen years spent as an active Kingsway BIA board member and three of those years as the Chair. Cathy grew up in the neighbourhood and even though she moved away for a time, she always felt drawn back here.
“I’ve always felt like this neighbourhood had amazing people who lived here, who cared about their homes, their neighbours, and took an interest as to what was happening in their neighbourhood,” she says, “It’s nice when you can step out to your local coffee shop and run into people that you know and talk with them.” And the community feels the same way about her – so much so that she was recently awarded a Gem of Etobicoke-Lakeshore trophy – well deserved, in light of her exemplary business sense and community involvement! To add to her trophy shelf, Beaulieu Vision Care has also been graced with the Etobicoke Reader’s Choice award nearly every year since they opened, as well as the Board of Trade Business Excellence Award. That’s a pretty impressive track record!
When asked what her favourite thing about the Kingsway was, Cathy promptly answered, “The people. I know so many great people. It’s my relationship with my customers that make me rush to work every morning. AMAZING, Amazing, people, Educated, honest, respectful – that’s what makes up this beautiful Kingsway.”
She also added that she loves taking part in the many neighbourhood festivals, “Big ones like Taste of the Kingsway, or small ones like the Easter egg hunt or Halloween with the Dorothy Lea Hospice bed race, and one of my favourites, that I hold close to my heart, Out of the Cold fundraiser and concert during the Christmas holidays.”
Cathy and her dedicated staff plan to stick around for quite a while, and promise that their commitment to stellar service and top of the line products will never waver, “I’ve been working on the Kingsway for over 30 years and have enjoyed seeing it grow and change, and I look forward to seeing what the next 30 years will bring to this neighbourhood.”
(Interview courtesy of the Kingsway BIA)