Retail solutions specialist SpaceandPeople has confirmed it has won a five year contract with The Garden Centre Group.

The SpaceandPeople group markets, sells and administers space in high footfall venues, including garden centres, retail parks, shopping centres and travel hubs. Its remit is to match brands, promoters and retailers to the venues and footfalls that are right for them.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for us," said SpaceandPeople sales director Nick Hill. "The Garden Centre Group is a very professional operation which sees the potential in maximising its space."

Scotland-based SpaceandPeople has been working with Dobbies for the past six years, and that partnership will continue.

"We'll be working closely with individual centres within The Garden Centre Group, to make sure we fulfil their needs and that the ideal activity is placed in the venue," added Nick.

No one at The Garden Centre Group, which now owns around 140 centres, was available for comment on the deal with SpaceandPeople.

A spokesperson for First Franchise, which claims on its website to be the only specialist garden centre concession company in the UK, refused to comment on the matter.

Customer votes for The Greatest Garden Centre Team at Christmas are flooding in to the GTN offices... Remember to send in your votes after voting closes on Christmas Eve.

Response to the public vote this Christmas has been tremendous. We've even had to repair the letterbox holder at the GTN offices after it succumbed to the weight of entries.

The Greatest Christmas Awards were conceived by GTN to reward garden centre teams who pull out all the stops to maximise their festive sales and the award for The Greatest Garden Centre at Christmas is awarded to the teams that get the most votes.  It's as simple as that.  The highest accolade a garden centre team can have to be voted number one by your customers!

Now in their fifth year, the awards have become increasingly popular and The Greatest Christmas Party at Harrogate on 12 January 2014 – where the results are announced – has earned a reputation as the best gig in town, as well as a celebration of the industry’s leading role in Christmas retailing.

The Greatest Christmas Awards guarantee that the outstanding teamwork that has made the garden centre Christmas the envy of other retail sectors gets the recognition it deserves.

So encourage even more of your customers to fill out the voting form - they have until close of business on Christmas Eve. And then get those votes in to us asap.

And our Greatest Christmas Awards panel, who met up for final judging, were happy to report that garden centres were buzzing with festive activity.

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year:

• Garden Products – up 6%
• Christmas – static 0%
• Growing Media – up 27%
• All items index – up 15%

Scheurich Cover Pots fill the next two places with Dark Red and Glossy Cream while the highest new entry is the Ivyline Pot Cover Poinsettia at No 23. Scheurich also have a newcomer to the Top 50 in Anthracite B Pot at No 49.

Decorative animals are also proving popular as Vivid Arts fill three of the top 10 places with their Playful Polar Bear (sitting, standing and dancing versions).

Garden lighting - as well as outdoor lighting for Christmas - is selling in good numbers. The highest re-entry is Gardman LED Light String Starlight (50 lights) at No 35. There are 12 garden lighting lines in the Top 50.

There’s also evidence that tools and gardening gloves are being bought as Christmas gifts.

Overall, it has been a tough year but GTN Bestsellers data reveals that total volumes of garden products sold in 2013 are higher than 2012.

See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here.  Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

It has been a record-breaking Christmas so far for Frosts at Woburn Sands with more than 17,500 people passing through the centre's Santa’s Grotto.

In addition, 12,000 people have taken advantage of the garden centre’s ice rink.

Frosts have recorded strong Christmas sales as wel. Since the Christmas season started there on November 16 they have sold 5,600 baubles, 2,653 metres of tinsel, 896 sets of lights and 15,469 mince pies have been purchased in their restaurant.

Managing director James Frost, said: “This year we wanted to offer the ultimate Christmas experience with more activities and events than ever before.

“Footfall is up significantly on last year and we’re pleased that people are enjoying what we have to offer.”

The ice-rink is open until January 5.

Vivid Arts Ltd has commenced legal proceedings in the English High Court against Tom Chambers Ltd based on allegations of copyright infringement, design right infringement and/or passing off  in respect of  Vivid Arts’  award winning resin based 'Real Life' and 'Nature’s Friend' animal range of garden ornaments by the promotion, manufacture, sale  and supply of Tom Chambers’ resin based animal range of garden ornaments . 

A number of remedies are sought in the Court proceedings, some of which include:

• An injunction to restrain Tom Chambers from infringing Vivid Arts Limited’s intellectual property rights.
• An order for delivery up or destruction of all stocks of products or materials which are found by the court to be unlawful  and forfeiture to Vivid Arts or destruction under oath of all articles which incorporate Vivid Arts’ copyright and design right that are in the power, possession, custody or control of Tom Chambers.

The High Court Claim Form has been issued but no Defence is yet due. It is not yet known whether or not Tom Chambers will defend against the claim.

However, Vivid Arts says it has no desire to pursue unnecessary litigation and wishes it to be known that it does not intend to commence proceedings against other third party retailers or customers of Tom Chambers in relation to this matter.

Vivid Arts wishes it to be known that there is no commercial connection between themselves and Tom Chambers, and the Tom Chambers’ range of resin based garden ornaments is in no way connected to, nor endorsed by, Vivid Arts.

"Vivid Arts has been present in the UK market with its award winning resin based 'Real Life' and 'Nature’s Friend' animal range of garden ornaments for six years," said Paul Newbitt of Vivid Arts. "We work very hard to develop aesthetically pleasing and realistic products of high quality and detail, and we will continue to serve the market with innovative and new products in the future."

Two new faces have joined Westland Horticulture’s Technical Team to ensure the company continues to deliver exciting new products to its customers.

Jane Fairlie and Tom Clamp both joined the team at the start of December and are busy with all the various tests and trials necessary to create Westland’s top selling products of the future.

The Technical Team, based at Westland’s Alconbury site in Cambridgeshire is a vital department at Westland, which prides itself on both its technical knowledge and expertise and for providing simple, no nonsense advice for gardening novices and experts alike.

Tom Clamp, Technical Officer, has just completed a MDS graduate training scheme in fresh produce and food management, consisting of six 6-month work placements in companies such as PepsiCo, Syngenta and a PGC from Harper Adams University. He will work on trials to test products and also answer technical enquiries.

Jane Fairlie, Regulatory and Technical Officer, previously worked at Hargreaves Plants Ltd as a Research and Development Manager. She will be responsible for regulatory work, trials and the customer advisory service.

David Coop, Head of Technical Development, said: “Westland Horticulture has grown rapidly, particularly over the last three years, and we’re committed to investing in the best people so we can continue this growth. Testing and developing products is vital to our success as a business so it’s important to have the right people in the team. We also believe that our service to the customer and consumer does not end after they have brought our products, quite the reverse, so we are here to support, guide and advise at all times.

“Jane and Tom bring with them a wide range of technical and practical skills and experience and are looking forward to ensuring that Westland customers continue to get first class products with a first class service."

Garden centres taking part in Garden Re-Leaf Day 2014 – the garden industry’s annual, season-starting charity fund-raising day – can win a ‘money-can’t buy’, footfall-boosting visit to their garden centre by popular ITV gardener David Domoney on Sunday 16th March 2014 (the Sunday immediately after Garden Re-Leaf Day).  

David is offering a series of 30-minute expert talks on that date to the garden centre that wins Garden Re-Leaf Day’s new, free to enter ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition – which has a closing date of Friday 7th February 2014.

Any garden retailer registering their participation in Garden Re-Leaf Day by 7th February is eligible to enter.  To register, email info@gardenreleaf.co.uk with your garden centre details, for inclusion in Garden Re-Leaf Day and on the website.  Then use the same email address by 7th February to enter the ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition.  Including your full address and contact details, simply say, in 200 words or less, how you would make the most of David’s visit on 16th March as part of Garden Re-Leaf Day.  The best idea wins him!

The winning entry will then be selected and notified by 12^th February; allowing time to publicise David’s visit to customers.  The winning garden centre can also liaise with David to choose the topic of the talk.  Organisers request that the winning retailer makes David’s special appearance a ticketed event, with proceeds going towards Garden Re-Leaf Day’s nominated charity for 2014, the Greenfingers ‘Rosy Cheeks’ appeal – the nationwide charity dedicated to building gardens in children’s hospices around the UK.

Garden Re-Leaf Day takes place on Friday 14th March 2014 and across the weekend, raising money for charity whilst launching the garden retailing season. Hundreds of retailers nationwide are expected to run a range of fund-raisers and customer activities as part of the event.  All retailers wishing to participate need to register with organisers as soon as possible to ensure inclusion.  Many garden industry suppliers will also be offering special Garden Re-Leaf Day product and plant promotions to help retailers raise further funds through sales.  Since 2012 Garden Re-Leaf Day participants have raised more than £116,000 for the cause; enabling several life-enhancing hospice gardens to be created.  

Caroline Owen, Managing Director of Scotsdales Garden Centre, has first-hand experience of how a pro bono on-site visit from David Domoney can benefit business.  She confirmed:  “When David visited Scotsdales during a previous Garden Re-Leaf Day, our customers absolutely loved it.  He is a great guy, so enthusiastic about gardening, higher profile than ever and incredibly popular.  The winning garden centre should get a lot of customer interest.”

Carol Paris, HTA Chief Executive, agreed.  “I think it’s fabulous that David has offered his time to a retailer as part of Garden Re-Leaf,” she said.  “When I was at The Garden & Leisure Group, David came to give a talk at one of our centres for Garden Re-Leaf that was extremely well received, drove a lot of footfall and was good for business.  His enthusiasm about gardening really comes across, and we had some great feedback from the day.”

Expert ITV gardener David is currently on our screens co-presenting ITV’s prime time gardening show, Love Your Garden, and is one of the most decorated garden designers in the UK having won 27 Royal Horticultural Society medals.  He is an active supporter of Garden Re-Leaf Day, and is launching his second Cultivation Street campaign – a national, joint initiative with the HTA aiming to boost communities by transforming front gardens and community gardens – during Garden Re-Leaf weekend. 

Garden Re-Leaf Day’s founder and Hillview Garden Centre CEO Boyd Douglas-Daviesadded:“We would like to say a huge thank you to David for donating his time for free for this fantastic new competition.  We are looking forward to receiving lots of entries and hope the winning retailer has a really successful, well-attended day.  We’re also reminding all garden retailers to register their participation in Garden Re-Leaf Day now, and start planning their activities.  It’s the epitome of a fun, fund-raising day, that also delivers a real retail benefit.”

Garden Re-Leaf Day 2014 looks set to be the biggest so far, with many initiatives in the pipeline.  Details will be highlighted in the media and on the www.gardenreleaf.co.uk website in the coming weeks.

Deco-Pak, a leading supplier of garden aggregates and decorative accents, has run a birdfeeder design competition involving pupils from Shelley First School in Huddersfield, giving them the opportunity to try their hands at garden product design from an early age.

With over 50 entries received, the competition generated quite a buzz at the school. It was however the design of four-year-old Anusha that captured the attention of the Deco-Pak team. The use of bright colours and delicate bird drawings will now be rolled out on Deco-Pak’s classic white birdfeeder, with the final design set to hit stores in March 2014. The special edition Greenfingers birdfeeders will retail at RRP £19.99, with £2.50 from each sale going to the garden industry’s charity, Greenfingers. Deco-Pak will also be providing finished feeders to the school as a token of thanks.

Craig Hall, marketing director at Deco-Pak, commented: “We are extremely pleased that we have been able to get schoolchildren involved in this special one-off design project. The competition has not only given them the opportunity to explore their creative minds, but has also provided us with a product which will no doubt be a sales winner for retailers. What’s more the special edition feeder will be retailed in aid of a brilliant charitable cause, with £2.50 from each sale of the feeder going direct to Greenfingers, helping them to build even more magical gardens at children’s hospices throughout the UK.”

The Greenfingers birdfeeder will join Deco-Pak’s wider birdfeeder and bird house product range. Launched at Glee 2013, the new collection has already garnered a strong response from the industry, with garden centres, multiple retailers and department stores already registering their interest in stocking products in their 2014/2015 offerings.

To find out more about Deco-Pak’s birdhouses and feeders, as well as its wider product portfolio including garden aggregates and decorative accents, log onto www.deco-pak.co.uk or call (01422) 204 394.

Pictured: Deco-Pak's Emma Hunter joins the 'Design a Garden' competition winner, four-year-old Anusha to celebrate her triumph.

The Greatest Christmas Awards, in association with the Harrogate Christmas & Gift Show, will take place on the evening of Sunday, January 12, at The Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, where we will be gathering to honour the Greatest Christmas teams in garden retailing and most importantly....to PARTY!

Included in the night’s festivities is a pre-dinner drinks reception, a three-course meal with wine, the glittering Greatest Christmas Awards presentations, then dancing to a live band.

Reward your team after a busy Christmas Season and a busy day at the show...you all deserve it. And with ticket prices starting at £72 - what are you waiting for?

Dress code is smart casual. Call 07973 504214 to buy your tickets today.

For sponsorship opportunities at this prestigious event, call Pat Flynn on 01733 775700.

Or buy on line using the dropdown menu here:

Tickets

1 Ticket £100.80 GBP2 Tickets £201.60 GBP3 Tickets £288.00 GBP4 Tickets £384.00 GBP5 Tickets £456.00 GBP6 Tickets £547.20 GBP7 Tickets £638.40 GBP8 Tickets £729.60 GBP9 Tickets £820.80 GBPTable of 10 £864.00 GBP

On the night sponsors:
   

  

Another sign that LED is taking over the lighting market comes in the form of Konstmide Light Arches, the only replacement bulb in the chart.

It’s also possible that the rise of LED popularity – both in terms of brightness and the number of lights you can get for your money – means that less baubles are needed on the Christmas tree.

The highest re-entry this week is the Premier Battery Operated Colour LED Lights at No 19 while the Premier Battery Operated LED Lights Multi-Action (Warm White) is the highest new entry at No 41. The highest climber is the Premier Cotton Snowman.

History & Heraldry Money Box baubles continue to sell well - holding on to No 1 spot for another week – but will there be a decline in future years as even more LED lights are bought.

See the full GTN Christmas Bestsellers Chart here.  Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Star performers this week include the following lines:

• Scotts Levington Ericaceous Compost (20 litres) re-entered the chart after a 100% increase in sales.
• Growise Multipurpose with John Innes (56 litres) also returned to the Top 50 bestselling lines.
• Arthur Bowers New Horizon Mulch & Mix (60 litres) showed a 100% rise in sales volumes.

Following on from the huge success of Buyer Connect at Glee, GIMA is organising a similar event for its members to pitch their ideas to Homebase.

Taking place on January 23, GIMA members will have the opportunity to meet some really influential buyers at Homebase who have range responsibility. Suppliers will be required to work to a tight brief to ensure that both buyers and sellers gain maximum potential from their meetings.

GIMA Director, Neil Gow, suggested that demand for appointments is expected to be high as there is still opportunity for Homebase to find lines which they can retail across their multiple channels in spring 201 as well as the retailer making plans for their 2015 ranges.

He also commented that based upon the very positive experience of Buyer Connect at Glee in 2013, the event will be replicated at the 2014 Glee which takes place in September in the new halls at the NEC. It will be extended to run over two days rather than just one, with a further international buyers event running on the Sunday of Glee.

The 2014 Stax & Wishart Garden Collection was launched on the 4th of December. Alongside the significant growth of the Garden Centre Sales team, Stax & Wishart are perfectly positioned to serve Independent Garden Centres in England & Scotland throughout 2014.

Set out in the usual, user-friendly format with comprehensive product information and separate price list the 192 page full colour 2014 garden catalogue has been specifically designed for ease of use by garden centre retailers. With a garden range of well over 3,000 lines from market leading brands such as Doff and Hozelock and being an official distributor of Bayer products as well as being one of the only three official distributors of Scotts products gives a clear indication of Stax & Wishart showing their commitment to the sector.

Purchasing Director, Simon Wright comments, “Our commitment to providing the best products and service for our retailers remains at the centre of our business. We have acted on feedback from our team of experienced reps who visit our garden centre customers on a daily basis, and have worked hard to source the best selling products at the right price, which ensures our customers can pass on great value.

Recent additions to the National Sales team brought the number of representatives up to 19 to give Stax and Wishart the ability to manage many more garden centre accounts resulting in a marked increase in garden centre business. The team of gardening sales representatives are currently distributing the new catalogue to customers and it will also be available on the Stax stand G20 at the Totally shows mid February.

The full range of gardening products are available not only on a delivered basis but also cash and carry from each of the four main Stax branches with a reduced range available from the Edinburgh depot.

Continued investment is also evident across the company’s own brands with the Ambassador range of premium quality garden tools including the now expanded Ash Handle Collection as well as the new Ambassador Growing Media range. 

Also featured in the 2013 Garden Collection is popular garden own brand SupaGarden, a range famed for its comprehensive product choice and fantastic margins – and the growing Glenwear Workwear collection, which retailers can now have suitably personalised with custom branding.

Joint Managing Director David Hibbert commented, “We are totally committed to supporting UK Garden Centres, and are backing up our words by investing in our sales team, as well as in our product ranges. We will once again be an official distributor of Pagoda Garden Furniture products in 2014 so as the economy comes out of recession in the coming years we believe that we will see strong growth in the Gardening sector, which means we’ll be perfectly placed to help Garden Centres capitalise on growth opportunities.”

Following the acquisition of Borderstone from Aggregate Industries at the end of November, Kelkay is now focusing on the key product areas moving forward.

This purchase further enhances Kelkay’s already extensive range of products by bringing additional pre-cast favourites into its range, along with a substantial Natural Stone offering - an area where Borderstone is renowned for being the industry leader.

The key line is the best-selling range of natural paving which includes sandstone in four colours and slate in two colours. All natural paving is available in 5.5m2 and 10.2m2 patio kits with a larger additional size of a 15.3m2 patio kit in the sandstone range. There is also a range of landscaping features including stepping stones, edgings and dollies to complement Kelkay’s already strong collection of pre-cast stone products.

Supported with Borderstone branded point-of-sale, these new products are available to Kelkay customers from February, further developing a diverse cross section of products to satisfy all areas of the industry. Kelkay hopes to maintain the current Borderstone stockist base and build strong trading relationships with new customers.

In addition, a number of Borderstone branded products will be sold creating many buying opportunities in excess of £2 million at retail. This offer stock will give significantly improved margins across many everyday volume selling lines.

Antony Harker Managing Director of Kelkay comments: “We are delighted with the initial feedback we have received from our customers. We are looking forward to an exciting new era building the Borderstone brand and existing portfolio."

For more information on the Borderstone products available email salesenquiries@kelkay.co.uk or call 01405 869333.

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter and on the GTN website www.gardentradenews.co.uk.

Every week we give sales volume comparisons with 2011 as well as 2012 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, or subscribe on-line here

or e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Christmas Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Garden Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.