When you talk about humble beginnings that’s exactly where See Vu Optical started.

Our founder Mr Premnath Sookdeo, began this journey back in 1997, when he visited his brother in the United States who was, at the time, working in the Optical Industry. He became fascinated with what he saw and the possibilities that existed and in this moment a dream was birthed.
The dream of opening an Optical Store locally.

They say every journey begins with a first step and he began by purchasing frames whole sale and selling them retail out of two brief-cases. At this point he was still serving with the Trinidad & Tobago Police Service but spent his off days doing sales building his clientele. He sold to family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, teachers, students anyone he came in contact with. This is where it began and sales increased, the word started to spread and so it progressed from 1997 to 2005.

He was contacted by Mr Franklyn Kissoon, of Pembroke Street, Port of Spain, the biggest wholesale buyer of optical frames at that time. This is where it took off! Their first store and now head office was then constructed in Diamond Village, San Fernando in 2006 with a solid staff of 2 employees. Selling only frames and still going full steam ahead with no name. From 2006 to 2008 with hard work and perseverance, great headway was made into attaining a fair chunk of the optical market.

His tenacity kept him focused on the dream he had in his heart of hearts. With the strong support of his wife, they both poured their resources together, with grit and determination towards their goal. Seeing the dream so clearly, they managed to secure the support of both their sons who stepped into the world of dispensing and optometry, successfully qualifying as an optometrist and professional optician. 

With this collective support, guided by constant market research and monitoring, right decisions, perfect connections, intuition and even a gamble or two they managed to begin to see the dream take form. In 2008, the decision to bring their son, the optician into the business was made and he was brought on board to provide professional Optician services. Also an optometrist, Dr. Echimen Justice originally from Nigeria, was employed to conduct Eye examinations. The spanking new store was conducting eye examinations four days a week with a staff of four under the company which now had a registered name as See Vu Emporium Optical.

The Diamond store proved to be an immense success which lead to the opening of the second store in 2011 at High Street Princes Town, opposite Charlotte Street, a mere 3 years after. Its at this location Optometrist Roger Robinson joined the company. His calm sophisticated, caring, temperament coupled with his extensive, London based training and knowledge of the field caused patients to gravitate from far and wide to support the practise. His patients remain ever so faithful still, to this day many request to be seen by Roger Robinson. Roger is still with us and shines brightly as a beacon for See Vu Optical.

The faithfulness of the customers and growing support created the desperate need for their own in-house Surfacing Lab. The equipment was purchased and a lab staff of three persons were hired and production commenced in 2012.  A main player in this new game surfaced and was hired, in the form of Ms. Rachel Brown, extremely qualified and exceptionally experienced. Our very new qualified lab technician, brilliant and vivacious in every way, commandeered this new challenge and successfully navigated processes and procedures within the in-house lab to create a seamless rhythm that still successfully operates like a well-oiled engine.

Success was inevitable and things took off, where they opened their third store in Montrose, Chaguanas in 2013, followed by the eastern branch, the forth store, in Rio Claro in 2014. In 2017 their son the Optometrist had completed his studies in Optometry and joined the family business as Optometrist taking the Princes Town branch under his wings. Some changes took place and Roger Robinson moved to the Diamond Branch where he has comfortably nested since.

The fifth and most recent branch in Central, Couva opened its doors in 2021. We now boast Five successful branches with a full staff of thirty two permanent employees. Our frame variety is parallel to none, our optometrists are the best in the business and we try our very best to give the best customer experience the moment you walk through our doors. Our reach has grown far and wide and we are extremely proud of all we’ve accomplished thus far. We at See Vu Optical continue to strive to excellence and we look forward to what the future holds. We rest comfortably in knowing that in this lifetime we have made our dreams a reality.