Smart Garden Products are not making any wild claims as to what they will achieve with the Chapelwood brand, acquired from Scotts on Friday.  They are just prioritising on keeping existing supply channels going and starting the process of recapturing the sales and market position of Chapelwood before the sale and subsequent closure of Solus two years ago.

Smart Garden MD, Jonathan Stobart told GTN Xtra yesterday: “We’ve already had a lot of customers contact us saying they are pleased we have picked up the business.  Scotts have been supplying Chaplewood products right up to the day of the sale.  We will be continuing that and updating existing customers later this week.”

“We hope to retain the existing customer base initially and then re-launch next summer.”

“Our entrepreneurial team at Smart know it will be a big task, but we are blessed with a lot of experienced people.  As customers will know we are a commercially very strong on new product development and we feel there is opportunity for us to innovate in this area.”

Asked why Smart had bought the Chapelwood brand rather than create a new Smart Bird care brand, Jonathan said: “It was opportunism in that Scotts decided to sell the brand, we initially talked to them over a year ago but it wasn’t for sale then, and the chance to re-build the reputation.  Chapelwood has a solid footprint to build on and there is still a lot of affection according to the feedback we have received.”

Jonathan explained that the purchase happened really quickly.  “We only started talking to Scotts again just before Glee.  Sheila Hill and her team have been very professional in the way they handled the transaction.  The market has changed considerably over the past two years but we are really excited about the prospect.  Our Smart Garden bestselling decorative bird baths now have a whole range of feed and feeders to go along with them in garden centres.”

Finally, Jonathan explained there won’t be any staff transferring from Scotts to Smart Garden Products with the Chapelwood brand. “We will in time grow our team.  We’ve been growing fast and that is always creating new opportunities. Good people always have a role in our business.”

“Any garden centres wanting to find out more about Chapelwood now that it is owned by Smart Garden Products should contact Paul Knott via: p.knott@sgpuk.com.”



Smart Garden Products MD, Jonathan Stobart with Xavier Faure, Director European Sales, at spoga+gafa 2016 just before renewed contact with Scotts resulted in their acquisition of the Chapelwood wild bird care brand.