In This Issue
BBQ giants Weber to give SOLEX a miss in July
HTA Study Tour is a Dutch Sensation
Westland/GCA Rising Stars 2016 deadline extended
Garden Retail Experience - Netherlands 2016 Briers go Dutch!
Closed garden centre site could be turned into housing
Colour and rotation are key ingredients
Sales at garden centres bursting out all over
Flower Show Forum will sow seeds of change for gardening clubs around the UK
Wyevale Garden Centres raise record-breaking donations for community hospice
The Greatest Awards go back on tour in 2016
Garden Wise aims to raise £5,000 for Marie Curie through daff feeder sales
Four weeks to go, 10 pounds still to loose
Garden Centre Supervisor
Customer Service Assistant
Assistant Shop Manager
Plant Area Manager (Full time, including alternate weekends)
Assistant Garden Centre Manager
Bedding Department Head (Full time, including alternate weekends)
Garden Centre Shop Manager
Horticultural Content Team Leader \ Essex
Plant Area Sales Assistant (Full time, including alternate weekends)
Plantarea Manager / Supervisory / Berkshire
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
New Board appointment for Blue Diamond
Sales of garden products slow to pick up
Shallots and veg seeds selling well
Growing media sales are the star performers
Long Service Award celebrations at Forest Garden
Nurseries certified for Environmental Management
MEP's keynote speech to plant-health conference
Buttacup partners with Buglife to promote invertebrate sustainability
Allensmore increase their creative team with new appointments
APL Avenue at BBC Gardeners’ World Live winners announced
Pictures from The Greatest Christmas Gold-winning Teams
Brookside Garden Centre
Haskins West End
Hillmount Garden Centre
Mains of Drum
Premier Decorations
Bents and Le Friquet
Silverbirch (Small Garden Centre Gold)
Old Railway Line (Mid-sized Garden Centre Gold)
Barton Grange (Large Garden Centre Gold)
Le Friquet (Group Garden Centre Gold)
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Wyevale Garden Centres wins Design Effectiveness Awards for Food & Beverage concepts
Catering sales kick off the New Year
Snack dispensers ideal for garden centres, says firm
Casual Dining 2016 opens in London next week
Situations Vacant
Garden Centre Supervisor
Competitive salary
 
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Customer Service Assistant
Langlands Garden Centre - Leeds
 
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Assistant Shop Manager
Competitive salary
 
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Plant Area Manager (Full time, including alternate weekends)
West Horsley KT24 6AR
 
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Assistant Garden Centre Manager
Salary: £23,000 - £25,000
Read more»
Bedding Department Head (Full time, including alternate weekends)
West Horsley KT24 6AR
 
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Garden Centre Shop Manager
Salary: £20,000 - £26,000
Read more»
Horticultural Content Team Leader \ Essex
Salary: Dependent on experience
Read more»
Plant Area Sales Assistant (Full time, including alternate weekends)
Twickenham TW2 5PA
 
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Plantarea Manager / Supervisory / Berkshire
Salary: Dependent on experience
Read more»
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Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700
Catering sales kick off the New Year
Garden centres across the country reported good sales in catering during January, according to the Garden Centre Association’s Barometer of Trade report.
 
Catering sales kick started the year at 16.48% up with Food Hall/Farm Shop sales close behind at 16.04% up. Clothing was also a good seller at 16.09% up.
 
Iain Wylie, GCA Chief Executive, explained: “Our member garden centres were full of customers enjoying their food whether in their food halls and farm shops, as well as restaurants throughout January, which is good to see. As well as stopping off to buy produce and for a bite to eat, shoppers also picked up plenty of houseplants as this was best performing traditional category during the month with sales up 11.09%.
 
“January was a very wet month so it is not surprising to see other more traditional categories not performing as well as hoped. Outdoor plant sales were at -9.19%, seeds and bulbs were -18.99% and garden sundries at -2.68%.”
 
Furniture and barbecue sales were up 8.14% compared to the same month last year.
 
Iain added: “Gifts and Christmas items continued to perform well during the month as people took advantage of the January sales in order to stock up for next year or to simply just grab something at a bargain price. Gift sales were up 4.55% and Christmas sales were up 9.75%.”
 
Sales in pets and aquatics departments were -2.87% and hard landscaping sales were at -5.5%.
 
For the month of January the overall garden centre performance and Year to Date change was 5.79%.
 
Julian Winfield (left), who is the Chief Executive of Haskins Garden Centre and also the GCA’s new Chairman, said: “Not that many years ago garden centres were quiet after Christmas, but now thanks to our restaurants our customers keep coming in even when the weather is not good. This helps keep our customers interested in what we have to offer.
 
“All the non-gardening departments have done reasonably well, some discounted old ranges but also in new product such as garden furniture. Those garden centres that quickly cleared up Christmas in early January look ready for spring sales.”
 
The BoT results are the only official GCA trading figures to be released.
 
The GCA BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement. They are made available mid-month following the end of the prior month after all member garden centres have submitted their results.
 
The BoT reports allow members to compare their trading positions with other centres.
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