GTN Xtra - GTN Xtra Issue 12 2018

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

GTN's Greatest Christmas Awards 2107
are sponsored by:

and raise money for the Greenfingers Charity to build magical gardens at Childrens Hospices across the UK.

See GTN's photo tours of 30+ garden centres this Christmas including Bents, Barton Grange, Brookside, Castle Gardens, Planters, Scotsdales, Silverbirch, Ruxley Manor and Whitehall using this link

Gardman fire destroys the stock and the building - drone video and company statement

Drone footage from Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue, filmed on Monday, shows the extent of the fire at the Gardman warehouse in Daventry and the company have issued a statement saying: "the fire has destroyed both the stock and the building"...

See the drone video and read the Gardman update

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Man arrested on suspicion of arson after Gardman warehouse fire

Northamptonshire Police have just issued a bulletin on their website stating that a man has been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire. Roads in the industrial estate remain closed while firefighters continue to tackle the fire and work closely with the police and other agencies to maintain public safety....

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Worst garden centre trading week in Bestsellers history - but how are centres trading in the aftermath?
Comment from: Blue Diamond, Haskins, Stewarts, Langlands, Hillview, Alton, Aylett, Barton Grange, Gardens Group, Millbrook, Planters and Monkton Elm

It was a bad week for garden centre trading with sales almost falling off our GTN Bestellers All Sales index graph but not the worst start to the year in recent history...

Read comment from garden centres

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Nicholas Marshall is still Chief Executive, maintain Dobbies

Dobbies have told GTN Xtra this week that Nicholas Marshall is still chief executive of the garden centre group following rumours that he'd left the company...

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Plant sales take a hit because of the bad weather

Even if customers got to garden centres last week they didn’t venture far out into planterias. Primula sales that are normally flying through tills in the run up to Mothers Day dropped by 77%...

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Five new Greenfingers Charity Ambassadors appointed

Finding people willing to work for nothing isn’t easy. So it’s astonishing that five important people from the gardening industry signed up as unpaid Ambassadors to Greenfingers Charity at the recent Garden Press Day...

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Woodlodge improve efficiencies with upgraded warehouse facilities

Woodlodge is preparing for a strong 2018 season after investing heavily in its warehouse and operations facilities to increase its offering to retail customers...

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Hozelock have a bee in their bonnet about helping Britain’s bees

With the help of Bizzi, their friendly mascot, Hozelock are running a campaign to encourage gardeners to plant bee friendly plants to help save Britain’s bees...

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All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering

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Pugh’s Garden Village Wenvoe opens its doors to the new Orange Tree Café Restaurant

The Pugh family are welcoming customers into their new Café Restaurant, The Orange Tree, at Pugh’s Garden Village Wenvoe. Here’s a picture review...

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12-hour Charity “Plantathon” at Squire’s in Woking

Squire’s Garden Centres is taking part in a 12-hour “Plantathon” on Friday 16^th March, to raise money for the charity Greenfingers on their annual Garden Re-Leaf Day...

Deputy Chairman Sarah Squire practicing for the “Plantathon”.

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Record-breaking fundraising for Thrive at Europlants

Hertfordshire-based trade nursery Europlants once again made Thrive its chosen charity to support at its annual spring open days and this was a record-breaking year of fundraising...

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Haskins Garden Centre visits residents at Great Oaks care home to donate houseplants

Haskins Garden Centre in Ferndown has partnered with Great Oaks care home in Bournemouth to donate houseplants for the residents...

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Smart Garden announces winners of the Sales Manager of the Year Award

For the first time in the history of the Smart Garden Sales Manager of the Year Awards, Chairman Paris Natar was able to congratulate more than one winner who will share the trophy over the coming year...

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GTN March 2018 Issue OUT SOON! To view a digital version click here

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Snow shovels can't save disappointing garden product sales

Garden Product sales slumped to the lowest Top 50 week total ever recorded by GTN Bestsellers since 2008 with snow shovels the notable exception with a sales increase...

Snow causes growing media sales to drift down to November levels

Only six growing media lines managed a week on week increase as the bad weather stopped overall growing media sales in their tracks...

Wyevale Nurseries staff celebrate two award wins

Staff at one of the UK’s leading nurseries is celebrating this month (March, 2018) after winning two awards from two garden centre groups it supplies plants to...

GIMA Day Conference: Don’t miss out!

The forthcoming GIMA Day Conference – 12th April, Ettington Chase, Warwickshire, CV37 7NZ – is set to offer a varied selection of speakers, including two popular retail stalwarts who will be providing an insight into the state of retailing in the year ahead...

Young Gardeners of the Year hopefuls unveil design

Writtle University College’s team for the Young Gardeners of the Year competition have unveiled their design. The annual competition is organised by celebrity gardener David Domoney and gives students invaluable experience of designing and building a show garden...

The best of last week's

If you missed last week's GTN Xtra, below are the most-read stories...

Has Nicholas Marshall left Dobbies?

GTN Xtra newshound received a tip off this week that Nicholas Marshall has left Dobbies and that Graeme Jenkins is now running the garden centre group...

Scotts appoint Mark Portman as UK & Ireland General Manager as it's confirmed that Sheila Hill has left the company

Scotts UK have confirmed that Sheila Hill has left the business and Mark Portman has been appointed to replace her in the role of UK General Manager. Mark has been at Gardman for a short period of time as Group Sales Director.

Snow wreaks havoc for garden centre stores

The unique mix of "The Beast from the East" and Storm Emma wreaked havoc across UK garden centres this week with reports of many store closures, frozen pipes and heroic efforts to keep trading...