A magical trip of around the world in 80 days was a Christmas theme that came to life as British Garden Centres showcased its festive displays at Bridgnorth Garden Centre.
The evening event was part of a series of openings at key locations over the past three weeks for British GardenCentres.
“They have been so successful, we are now planning to do a few more,” said Amy Stubbs (pictured right), director of the 61-strong group of centres who welcomed the assembled guests.
The centre looked good, was welcoming and well set up for autumn sales, but of course it was really Christmas we were there to see.
Greeted by Santa and his team of helpers, led by centre manager Steph and assistant manager Sarah, who takes operational responsibility for the seasonal sales area, the themes and display were imaginative and creative. Certainly a contender in the GTN Greatest Christmas Awards for 2022.
Being part of the group, the majority of ranging and buying is done centrally for the stores, but the display is very much down to the local team on the ground to conceive, construct and bring to life.
And bring to life they certainly had. Taking the traditional themes including:
- A Winter’s Tale,
- A Touch of Elegance,
- Sleigh Bells Ringing,
- Enchanted Forest
- The Night Before Christmas
The team had creatively adapted each of these themes into a magical trip around the world in 80 days. London, Venice, Lapland, Belgium, Agrabah where just some of the destinations on the whirlwind trip before dropping into New York and even seeing the Aurora Borealis on the way home! Good attention to detail, linked sales in many areas, easy, relaxed shopping, all led to a vibrant display with plenty of atmosphere.
Traditional gardening areas were very much, as they should be in early October, geared entirely to autumn in the garden, but bulk displays of key lines that will make great gifts for gardeners were in evidence, just waiting for the time to be right for dressing for Christmas and capitalising on sales to some of those new gardeners the Covid pandemic has inspired.
Festive displays were also creeping into the Food Hall and Gift areas with the promise of much more to come. The team was prepared to share the fact that Santa will be in his grotto before the end of November, but remained tight lipped about the existence of a steam engine and carriages tucked away behind the specimen conifer area on the planteria. We will just have to take a trip back to find out what that is all about and with a 2 course Christmas Lunch menu available for only £13.95 a head, we well be making it a lunchtime visit!
The traditional refreshments, slice of Yule log, mince pies and a cranberry fizz were all topped off with an excellent goody bag for all guests attending on the evening. Social media is being heavily used for publicity with photo opportunities in every theme, photo frames and encouragement to ‘post and ‘share’ your pictures with the hash tags ‘#OurChristmas’ and ‘#AllWrappedUp’ in use.
The big question of course on all our lips is how inspired is the consumer going to be to spend, spend, spend this Christmas? Some stock still to come in and of course none of the fresh stock yet available, but the family at British Garden Centres, Bridgnorth are certainly ‘Christmas ready’.
If anybody is going to inspire the customer to part with their cash it is going to be this team. So good luck to them all for Christmas and their entry into the GTN Greatest Christmas Awards.
A gallery of more pictures below...
