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Dobbies have confirmed that CEO James Barnes and Finance Director Sharon Brown left the garden centre business yesterday.
A spokesperson for Dobbies told GTN Xtra today that James Barnes had left the business in good shape thanks to his long experience on the board of directors.
Parent company Tesco, who gained full control of Dobbies five years ago, remains committed to the garden centre brand, added the spokesperson. There will be no change in strategy, but they will be looking at ways to unlock the potential of the business through all channels.
"The company is grateful of the contribution made by both James and Sharon."
James Barnes’ family founded the Dobbies business and were shareholders until the sale to Tesco in 2007.
The spokesperson said Dobbies will be recruiting an new CEO and a new finance director in due course.
Neither James Barnes or Sharon Brown were available for comment.
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One of the UK's largest garden centre retailers
FACT: Dobbies is one of the UK's largest garden centre retailers with 32 stores across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
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The Garden Centre Group has announced the appointment of Frank Hayes and Sarah Biggers as Directors, reporting to Group CEO Kevin Bradshaw, with immediate effect.
Frank Hayes joins as Commercial Director and will be driving forward the growth of our concessions business, creating plans to develop both our existing partners and attract new partners.
Frank was previously CEO and Commercial Director of Betts Group, a private equity-backed global packaging manufacturer supplying the major FMCG companies. He led a restructuring of the business and of its key customer relationships which dramatically improved its profitability and cash position, enabling a refinancing and successful sale of the business.
Prior to that Frank was Managing Director of Spirit Food, the pub/restaurant division of Spirit Group, where he led a turnaround of the operating businesses and estate expansion through pub conversions. He previously spent 13 years at Yum! Brands (formerly PepsiCo Restaurants) in various international supply chain and general management roles including five years as General Manager of Yum!’s businesses in Spain and France. He started his career at Bain & Company, the leading firm of strategy consultants.
Sarah Biggers joins the Group as Human Resources Director, overseeing the HR, Training & Talent functions, with responsibility for managing the attraction, retention, motivation and development of the Garden Centre Group’s 5,000 employees.
Sarah joins the Group after having spent the last 18 months working as an independent consultant and providing interim HR cover and strategic HR project support to a range of businesses.
Previously, she worked for the Virgin Group, initially as HR Manager for Virgin Active, where she was responsible for putting in place the HR infrastructure in the early years of the company’s growth. Subsequently she was Head of People for Virgin Management where she led teams delivering business partnering services to Virgin Management and Virgin’s smaller operating businesses and managing the key relationships and cross-group projects with the HR teams across the Virgin Group.
Speaking of these appointments, Kevin Bradshaw said: “I am delighted to welcome Sarah and Frank to the team. Through their leadership, we will be able to attract, retain and develop the best people and the best concession partners. Their contribution will help us build even greater momentum as we continue to develop and grow the business. “
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New marketing head and agency for Solus
Solus Garden & Leisure has appointed a new head of marketing and a brand communications agency as part of an ambitious three-year growth and business improvement plan...
Solus Garden & Leisure has appointed a new head of marketing and a brand communications agency as part of an ambitious three-year growth and business improvement plan.
Jacci Marcus has joined the company’s senior executive team as head of marketing, and has selected Birmingham-based Chapter agency to develop an innovative and creative approach to brand strategy and communications.
Jacci’s previous role was as UK marketing director at Karndean Designflooring and is looking to strengthen Solus’s relationships with its retailers as well as giving the company a consumer focus. She is guiding the launch of a new consumer brand which will add outdoor inspiration to gardening living products.
The appointment of Chapter, who also work with Halfords, Bentley and Yardley, is a key milestone in this strategy. Their first project will be to launch the new brand through retail channels.
Solus commercial director Ross Yealland said: “Jacci’s appointment comes at an interesting time for Solus as we look to improve our distribution in the UK and globally, our quality value products and our retail support.
“Already a leader in the UK gardening industry, we are striving to become the partner of choice for the garden products retailer. Our increased focus on marketing will help cement this relationship and build a stronger customer base for both parties.”
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SOLEX organiser Phil Gibbs today revealed that the three-day show at the NEC in Birmingham had attracted impressive levels of visitor numbers...
"Moving to one hall at the NEC has proved to be a great success," said Phil. He reported that attendance on the first day was up by 10% on the previous year and on Tuesday visitor numbers increased by over 20% on last year.
"We're particularly pleased that six times more people have come back for a second day this year. It just goes to show how much there is to see in Hall 5 of the NEC."
Visitors have commented to the GTN team that it's been great for all of the show to be in one Hall, making buying decisons that much easier. And plenty of orders are being placed at the show.
One garden centre owner told the SOLEX SUN: "We made a full day of it yesterday and got all of our buying for next season sorted in one go. Fantastic."
SOLEX 2014 will be back at the NEC from Monday 7th July through to Wednesday 9th July 2014.
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