Business profile: Small businesses, big plans at Moulton Optical

A Cole Harbour woman wants to start a group to unite small businesses in her community.

Deborah Moulton has been dispensing glasses for more than 30 years.

And she has owned and operated Moulton Optical on Cole Harbour Road for more than eight.

She is a second generation optician and started her career working with her father.

“It is a great place to have a business, but I noticed something was missing.”

There was no group that met strictly for marketing.

So in January she is starting one.

“I am starting a call to action group of like- minded entrepreneurs from the Forest Hills and Cole Harbour Road intersection to the intersection at Ross Road and Cole Harbour. It will unite everyone within those boundaries.”

Moulton is the co- founder of the Association for Business in Cole Harbour.

“It is a lovely group and it is still going strong. But I wanted to do something different.”

She realized that businesses in the area are spread out, wanted to include a smaller group and wanted to make cross marketing a priority.

“So that is why I am doing this. I have already thought of us sharing ideas, meeting and maybe passing out postcards with our businesses listed on it. If we don’t support one another first, how can we expect anyone else to?”

Metro is made up of a lot of pockets of neighbourhoods, she said.

“And Cole Harbour can be made into a destination shopping area for people who live here and for people who don’t. These stores are the backbone of the community. We just have to get the word out.”

She sees supporting small businesses as a passion and her responsibility.

“Shop at home first. If you can’ find it here only then go further afield. We have to keep small businesses alive. It will do more than keep them open, it will benefit everyone.”

On her website it says her father was old school.

“And he taught her the customer comes first, the staff second and you last. I’m proud to carry that belief into my own business.”

Moulton does more than sell eyewear. She has offered card stamping classes and carries a variety of other gifts.

She will be calling on businesses in January.

“I am looking for people to join this group who want to take their passion and their business and run with it. We can do a lot for each other and lot for Cole Harbour.”

For more information contact Deborah Moulton at [email protected] phone 902-434-9500 or visit 1090 Cole Harbour Road.

“My father was old school,” she says. “He taught me the customer comes first, the staff second and you last. I’m proud to carry that belief into my own business.”