In This Issue
Growing trend for centres to de-stock outdoor plants in winter
Customers wouldn't be happy if there weren't any plants on display in winter, say garden centres
Wyevale Garden Centres appoint B&Q and M&S executives
Now agency appointed to handle Wyevale's rebrand
Garden centre prepares to close as National Trust indicates takeover
Sinclair merge professional and retail sales forces
Lighting products boost sales in garden centres
'Meet the international buyer' meetings will be new Glee feature
Ball Colegrave celebrate colour at their open days
Supplier aims to educate public about benefits of uPVC garden buildings
Cannova Bronze Scarlet F1 wins Fleurostar
£10,000 sensory garden unveiled in Birmingham
Katie Melua champions Hydrangeas in August
If catering and food are your growth areas our new Food Xtra will help you
Sales Executive
Plant Centre Manager
Head of Buying
Restaurant Manager
Planteria Manager
Junior Buyer
Buying Assistant
Packets of veg seeds in high demand
Garden centre plan submitted to council
Bark and potting compost selling well
Seminar to tackle ornamentals sector issues
Weber revved up for Cook-A-Long at CarFest
South West Growers confirm Exeter venue for October show
90-page Direct Container Catalogue from Gardeco
Stewart Garden Schools Campaign 2014 names top 10 schools
‘Get Into Gaol FREE With Decco’
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
Situations Vacant
Sales Executive
NORFOLK LEISURE LIFESTYLE LIMITED
Read more»
Plant Centre Manager
Floors Castle Plant Centre
 
Read more»
Head of Buying
Cambridgeshire, up to £60,000 per annum
Read more»
Restaurant Manager
Armitage’s Garden Centre, Huddersfield
Read more»
Planteria Manager
Oxfordshire, up to £25,000 per annum
Read more»
Junior Buyer
Cambridgeshire, up to £30,000 per annum
Read more»
Buying Assistant
South Coast, up to £22,000 per anumm
Read more»
Send us your news and great ideas

Contact us with your news.  Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700

 


Customers wouldn't be happy if there weren't any plants on display in winter, say garden centres

Garden centres have a duty to display plants during the winter even if it means moving them to an undercover area. That's the view of award-winning stores like Altons and Groves, who believe it would be a mistake to de-stock completely.

Andy Bunker, of Alton Garden Centre in Essex, said: "I don't think garden centres should de-stock but more importantly they should think about what and where we offer plants during the late autumn to early winter period.

"The best place to display plants during this period is undercover. You can fill it with looking good lines in shrubs but you have bedding and seasonal lines like miracle cyclamen and pansies. Other good sellers at this time of year are garden girl heathers, solanum and autumn patio plants.

"But centres should adopt a little and often policy or speak to the growers/wholesaler about offers."

Charlie Groves, from Groves Nurseries in Dorset, commented: "We don’t actively de-stock our plant area with clearance promotions but obviously the amount of stock reduces depending on the time of year.  

"However, you have to be careful about managing and protecting containerised plants particularly if you have a very cold winter and we make use of our nursery to overwinter more vulnerable stock.  

"We do remove sales benches from the sales area and move the plants towards the shop so that the first impression is always that of a well stocked, healthy plant area even if the amount of lines has reduced in reality. I can’t ever see a time that we would clear out all of our plants for the winter, our customers would not be happy with that at all.

 "I can understand there might be a necessity in centres that have a smaller outdoor area and have to make room for Christmas trees. During December these are a lifeline but fortunately we have the space to be able to sell both."

What is your view on de-stocking of outdoor plants during winter?  Use the comments link below or e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk 

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg
Related Articles
Newsletter Marketing Powered by Newsweaver