In This Issue
"Open For Business: Lessons Learned from Lockdown and The First Week of Trading" webinar today at 5:00pm
Let’s spread a little RHS Chelsea cheer on #FloralFriday
Grow your sales with Evergreen Garden Care’s GYO best-sellers
Garden Centres back on the right track - UPDATED - New comment from Barton Grange, Newbank, Langlands and Green Pastures
Making garden centres friendly, safe and accessible again
Northern Ireland garden centres re-open with record sales - UPDATED
Bump Up Your Colour Pot Sales
Massive increase in demand for VegTrug
LifestyleGarden® thanks keyworkers with special giveaway
CSY launch Ecommerce Sites to help Garden Centres during the Covid-19 Panademic
The UK’s Infrastructure Capacity to Reprocess Post-Consumer Plastic Needs to Double by 2022 to Meet Plastic Packaging Tax Demands
A cut above on ground below
Gro-along Evergreen Garden Care launches virtual gardening series with David Domoney
Primeur continues to support retailers as the industry emerges from lockdown
GIMA welcomes government-backed trade credit insurance guarantee
GrowNation Secures Free Social Distancing Help and Advice for Garden Centres
Reopening your retail store: Step two – sanitation & portable hand washing/sanitisation stations
It’s a #FloralFriday thanks from Greenfingers Charity
Orderly queues form as garden centres in England re-open
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Smart Face Masks
Solex Exhibition – Cancelled
The Commercial Horticultural Association is supporting and promoting its existing British exhibitor group for GreenTech and preparing for the rescheduled show on 20-22 October
RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year to be judged during Virtual RHS Chelsea
Safe Trading Guidance for all garden centres published by HTA
The best of last week's
Green light for garden centres to re-open on Wednesday in England - UPDATED - Comment from James Barnes at HTA and Alan Titchmarsh MBE
St Peters staff in tears after council serves Prohibition Notice
Wales - Monday, England - Wednesday or June 1st?, Scotland and Northern Ireland?
Getting ready for business - feedback from Coolings, Planters, The Gardens Group, Blue Diamond, Green Pastures, Fron Goch and more
“Stay Alert” - make sure your customers and staff have a safe and enjoyable garden centre experience
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Haskins Snowhill re-opens after £15m re-vamp
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
Greenhouses used in trial of "Covid-safe" dining
Send us your news and great ideas

Contact us with your news.

Email trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700


Northern Ireland garden centres re-open with record sales - UPDATED

Garden centres in Northern Ireland re-open today and Hillmount Garden Centre received a visit from local MP Edwin Poots last week to see how preparations were going.

 

Last night, Alan Mercer told GTN Xtra: "The reopening day went well. We were nervous that we would be inundated with customers. But we were pleasantly surprised that our customers numbers were just steady all day. We have reduced our opening times by 1 hour to allow us to pick orders for our new online side of the business. We will pick orders ready for delivery the next day.

 

"Monday was our biggest day across all stores.

 

"It’s feels very different without the cafe. Customers simply buy stuff and leave. Whereas the cafe makes a garden centre more of a day out.

 

"We provided PPE in the form of face masks and Face Screens but we found most staff chose not to wear them as they felt they could sociably distance themselves from the customers.


The Perspex screens at the tills worked well. And the increase in contactless payments to £45 really helped."

 

The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) Chairman, James Barnes, commented last week after the news was announced: “We welcome the Northern Ireland Executive’s announcement that garden centres will be able to reopen from Monday. We are in peak season, so this news will be welcomed both by gardeners and the garden industry – providing an economic boost and enable access to the mental and physical well-being benefits that gardening brings.

 

“We will work as an industry to safely re-open garden centres from next week, as we have done in England and Wales. The HTA has produced Safe Trading Guidance, which covers all aspects of how garden centres can re-open while ensuring staff and customer safety at all times.

 

“Although opening gardening centres is hugely welcomed, this isn’t the single answer for Northern Ireland nurseries. They are in the middle of a perfect financial storm of perishability and seasonality and have already disposed of tonnes of plants. These family-owned businesses need a Dutch-style grant aid scheme to help them to survive and prosper.

 

“This now leaves Scotland as the last remaining country in the UK yet to announce garden centre reopening. The Scottish horticultural industry have been left at a competitive disadvantage relative to all other parts of the UK. Consumers in Scotland will be confused why garden centres cannot open in their local area. We have outlined to the Government that the industry has social distancing measures in place in order to reopen safely. They should now announce a reopening date as soon as possible.

 

Safe Trading Guidance

 

The HTA has produced a Safe Trading Guidance which includes a series of recommendations to protect customers.

 

The guidance document has been based on insight from leading HTA retailers, the British Retail Consortium, and from government advice as a recommendation of best practice regarding social distancing. Cafes, restaurants and children’s play areas will not be allowed to reopen under the guidelines.

Recommendations include advice on customer numbers in stores, entrance and exit protocols, and queueing and checkout procedures. It also contains practical advice on how to protect the health and wellbeing of staff.

 

What customers can expect

controlled access to car parks
limits on customer numbers in store – the recommendation is 1 per 1000 square foot
customers will be asked to shop with a maximum of one other person if possible and will be required to keep 2m distancing throughout the store and whilst queueing.
cafes, restaurants and children’s play areas will not be allowed to reopen under the guidelines.
The HTA recently launched a website - plantsnearme.hta.org.uk - to help customers find local garden centres that are offering home delivery or click and collect services. Members of the public will now be able to use the website to see which businesses have reopened and are following the Safe Trading Guidance.

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