In This Issue
Guessing games continue over sale of Wyevale Garden Centres
Up-for-auction garden centre site attracts lots of interest
Garden centre closed for four hours after fire breaks out
Impressive plans for garden centre expansion
Zest 4 Leisure hoping for a win at the GIMA Awards
Plant sales up by impressive 43% in June
Summer sun bonanza for bedding plants
UK to host International Garden Centre Association congress
Glee introduces new Discovery Tour
Hozelock return to the 2018 Retail Lab at Glee
Staff to hike and cycle in aid of Greenfingers
Durston works flat out to keep up with demand.
Bents supports primary school's Tatton initiative
Gardman turn "Old into Gold" for Greenfingers
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Big change in Garden Product sales
Growing media catches up during June
Heatwave dents Wild Bird Care sales
Flopro takes water conservation seriously
PlantGrow shortlisted for national award
Farplants add designer house plants to extensive range
Woburn Safari Park opens evocative Tusk garden to highlight elephant ivory crisis
Cool tips from Squire's on helping a garden survive the heatwave
The best of last week's
Businessman rescues two garden centres facing closure
The Scotts Company (UK) Ltd announces new company name...Evergreen Garden Care UK Ltd
Wyevale Marlow closed after field fire
Homebase to cut over 300 head office jobs and reports emerge of 40 store closures
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Garden centre catering managers prepare for lunch! 2018
Adande Grab & Go Cabinet with Aircell now available with additional merchandising features
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



GTN's Greatest Awards 2108 will launch with the presentation of the Outdoor Leisure Awards sponsored by:






Guessing games continue over sale of Wyevale Garden Centres

 

The guessing games over who will buy 145 Wyevale Garden Centres continued this week with Edinburgh Woollen Mills being the latest company linked to the UK’s largest garden centre retailer. Sky News reported on Wednesday that EWM had made a bid before news leaked out shortly after that it had since been withdrawn.

 

A spokesman for EWM is reported as saying: “We put in a bid for the business but our interest has always been limited.

 

“We do not want to involve ourselves in a bidding war and, as a result, thought it best to withdraw from the process now.”

 

On an almost daily basis GTN Xtra gets asked the question “have they or haven’t they?”, as speculation continues to mount over which companies have made bids for part or whole of the Wyevale business.

 

We can continue the speculation as to what’s going to happen, and who will become the new owners of the 145 stores on offer. But we feel it better to say “let’s wait and see.” We may change our minds in the coming weeks, however.

 

GTN Xtra’s Trevor Pfeiffer says: “If the Wyevale group is split up now, as many expect, then suppliers will have an interesting time dealing with the different buyers involved.

 

“Our hope, above all, is that whoever takes on the ownership of these centres does so with a sense of nurture and love for plants, food, coffee and all the good things garden centres can be famous for. 

 

“Great independent garden centre operators have proved that when their staff and their retail ambience truly reflect ‘nurture’ that even when the weather goes against us, as this spring, good will always shine through and our businesses will grow.”

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg | Comment (1)
Comment
Name:*

Email Address:*

Comment:*


Sort by 
Robin Tuppen
When you forget the core business is gardening and just go on a buying spree to get to be the biggest in the marketplace, this is what happens. Unfortunately Wyevale has starved itself of innovation over the years and their buyers have refused to see sales people from small companies, so they became the biggest but were far from being the best, for which they should have striven. Hopefully some of the independents they took over will return to independent hands and become good again! At least small companies such as my own will have a better chance of dealing with them!