Waitrose and Van Hage have today confirmed that they are exploring with district planners the possibility of building a new Waitrose food store alongside the existing Van Hage store in Great Amwell.

The proposal would provide shoppers with the latest Waitrose offer and also see parts of the Van Hage store redeveloped to provide its customers with an improved shopping experience.

Details are still being worked upon, however the project team hopes to bring forward plans in the near future at a public exhibition where they will seek the views of local people and businesses.

Waitrose Director of Development, Nigel Keen, said:  "It's no secret that we have had a long-standing aspiration to have a new store in the area. Whilst plans are still evolving, we are excited by the potential of putting the Waitrose brand alongside Van Hage. We have a shared ambition to bring more investment into the area, which can deliver significant employment opportunities and ensure a popular destination offers an even better experience and more choice for shoppers."

Van Hage Managing Director, Chris Roberts, said:  “This exciting new project will create a great future for Van Hage, its staff and customers alike. Both organisations have been working together for some time and are now ready to consult with the local community to get their views before submitting a planning application. We are delighted at the prospect of having Waitrose join us at Great Amwell.”

Whether you’re a landscaper, garden designer, grower or retailer, the fast-evolving business landscape coupled with the economic uncertainties of recent years has not only made for challenging times but challenges to our time as well;  finding space in busy schedules to just stop, think, learn and plan ahead has become increasingly difficult.

Thank heaven then for Classiflora-Zelari! Whether you’re seeking inspiration, education, motivation or simply a good day out, the Classiflora-Zelari 2014 open days 5th-6th March 2014 will magically pull together those nagging  items from your ’to do’ list and help you keep up with industry developments.



Inspiring retail customers

TV’s James Wong, botanist and foodie grower, will deliver inspiring talks and demonstrations showing retailers how they can better connect with younger gardeners, not only using social/online media but also learning a trick or two from James’s unique ‘pot to plate’ recipes, which have proved to be so popular with the youth market.

And from catwalk to catmint, new exhibitors will include Town & Country designer wellies, and Kelkay landscape products, so when they’ve finished checking out the latest in garden /festival footwear and landscaping materials, buyers can kick-start the growing season browsing Classiflora’s extensive range of shrubs, trees and ornamentals, with 180 bespoke shelf deals.

Streamlining systems and flexible buying

Bespoke shelf deals give buyers the ability to purchase in the most economic and flexible way – just make up your order by mixing and matching the plants you know your customers will buy. Less waste, less risk, more profit!

And Classiflora’s new ordering app is a brilliant innovation that really does save time, enabling a quote to be emailed to a customer with prices, offers and images in just minutes.

Sales & Marketing Manager Andrew Dayes will be happy to demonstrate!

Landscaping inspiration
Landscapers can get their creative juices flowing exploring Classiflora’s unrivalled on-site selection of hardy exterior European specimen plants, trees, shrubs and topiary, including larger architectural plants and specimen trees.

Business education

Neville Stein will be offering two one-hour training and development taster sessions, endorsed by the HTA (with the opportunity to sign up to the complete courses), covering topics that relate to increasing the profitability and loyalty of existing customers and attracting new customers.

Motivating networking opportunities

Catching up with old acquaintances and making new contacts is so much more productive face-to-face and the famous Classiflora- Zelari hospitality makes it all so easy! For landscapers and developers, the APL will be holding one of their popular Networking Seminars on March 6th.

Mouth-watering Tuscan cuisine

Enjoy a delicious, leisurely Italian lunch courtesy of Classiflora-Zelari.

Supporting horticulture’s favourite charity

Classiflora will make a donation to the Greenfingers Charity for every customer who books their open day reservation online. The Greenfingers Appeal builds wonderful gardens for children’s hospices – so every online booking will be helping to create memorable experiences for children and families who use the hospices.  There will also be a raffle in aid of Greenfingers with prizes drawn on both days.

For more information visit www.classiflora.com

VISIT THE UK’S NUMBER ONE GARDENING GLOVES BRAND

Town & Country will be showcasing some of their best-selling gloves and footwear lines, as well as introducing some exciting new designs.  

T&C have been manufacturing gloves for nearly 30 years and offer a comprehensive collection - from top of the range luxury leather gloves, through to hardworking gloves for heavy-duty tasks, and lightweight water-resistant gloves for light-duty jobs requiring dexterity.  Their Master Gardener gloves are the UK’s best-selling gardening gloves.

The company's footwear collection offers a variety of styles to suit all tastes and price points. The range currently comprises slip-on flat shoes, cloggies, ankle boots, short boots and a variety of full length wellingtons, including the top of the range Rutland neoprene-lined boot.

For more information visit: www.townandco.com


BE INSPIRED BY KELKAY AT THE CLASSIFLORA-ZELARI OPEN DAYS

With over 12 years experience in the garden industry, Kelkay offer a strong range of products across aggregate, rockery, paving and fountains.

Kelkay are the number one supplier in the market place on decorative aggregates. The recent acquisitions of leading brands 'Borderstone' and 'Henri' mean that Kelkay have strengthened their offering in natural paving and stone fountains.

So from laying 'Buildmate' sub-base to switching on the 8-piece 'Henri' finial fountain, you can rely on Kelkay to cover the foundations to the finishing touches of a spectacularly created garden.

For more information visit: www.kelkay.co.uk

Hollywood star Jude Law and Dr Who actor David Tennant have joined the growing list of household-name celebrities to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz, by recording a round of questions.  The brain-teasing audio quiz is available as a customer event opportunity to any garden centre taking part in the annual fund-raising day in March.

The two stars join Skyfall’s ‘Miss Moneypenny’, actress Naomie Harris – currently on cinema screens as Winnie Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom – in presenting a section of the questions.  EastEnders cast members Danny Dyer (new Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter) and Patsy Palmer (fiery market trader Bianca Butcher) have also lent their familiar voices to the quiz, in addition to a round recorded by impressionist Alistair McGowan – in the vocal style of celebrities John Humphrys, David Mitchell, Matt Baker, Dara Ó Briain and Stephen Fry.

David Tennant, Naomie Harris and Alistair McGowan have agreed to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz.

The quiz – which includes both general knowledge and gardening rounds – can be ordered by all retailers, suppliers and other organisations participating in Garden Re-Leaf Day; with funds raised going towards its chosen charity, Greenfingers. The production of the quiz and accompanying CDs are being provided by Garden Radio, as part of its support for Garden Re-Leaf Day.

The quiz is also a ready-made opportunity to boost customer footfall, as Garden Re-Leaf Day’s founder and Hillview Garden Centre CEO Boyd Douglas-Davies explains: “We’re enormously grateful that so many mainstream stars have supported this year’s Garden Re-Leaf Day quiz – it will be more popular than ever!  It’s a simple way for retailers both to take part in Garden Re-Leaf, and attract scores of customers in-store at the start of the spring gardening season.  You can make the event even more effective by running other sales promotions, refreshments and fund-raisers alongside. The organiser’s pack costs just £100 and is available by calling 01993 871456 or emailing pat@gca.org.uk”

Garden centres and suppliers across the UK are expected to take part in the third annual Garden Re-Leaf Day, held on Friday 14 March 2014 and across the weekend. Participants – who can run any number of nationally-coordinated or local fund-raising initiatives – are being urged to register their involvement as soon as possible by emailing the organising team at info@gardenreleaf.co.uk with an overview of your planned activities.  Your location and events will then be added to the Garden Re-Leaf Day website: www.gardenreleaf.co.uk.

As in its first two years, Garden Re-Leaf Day’s nominated charity in 2014 is Greenfingers; the nationwide charity dedicated to building gardens in children’s hospices around the UK. 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.    

In December it was announced that garden centres taking part in Garden Re-Leaf Day can also win a ‘money-can’t buy’, footfall-boosting visit to their garden centre by popular ITV gardener David Domoney on Sunday 16 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 7 February 2014.

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

TV presenter and gardening journalist Richard Jackson, an active supporter of both Greenfingers and Garden Re-Leaf Day, confirmed: “The quiz and David Domoney competition are both fantastic, easy ways of taking part in Garden Re-Leaf Day this year; benefiting both your business and the Greenfingers charity. Everyone wins, so let’s make this a record-breaking year!”

Having proven its economic model, Greenfingers.com is now looking to double the scale of its business in the next three years.

According to Kevin Hague, MD: “In the 10 years since we acquired Greenfingers.com we have successfully transformed it from a heavily loss making catalogue company to a profitable pure online player with exceptional growth prospects. We have patiently refined the business model so that we can now self-fund our growth and have put in place infrastructure and capacity plans to double the business in the next 3 years.”

As well as extending the warehouse capacity at their premises in Livingston, Greenfingers.com are close to a full website re-launch which will apply the best practice lessons learnt from the highly successful site re-launch of sister company, PetPlanet.co.uk in 2013.

Kevin continued “We have always believed that the key to building a successful business is hiring and nurturing the most talented people. We believe one our key competitive differentiators is the commerciality of our product range and this is underpinned by best-in-class buying and merchandising practices.”

Currently, Greenfingers.com is seeking a Senior Buyer to bolster their team. Click here to view the full job description.

The organisers of Garden Re-Leaf Day – the annual season-starting garden retail event in aid of children’s hospice garden charity Greenfingers – have announced a new and simple way to enable garden product and plant suppliers to get involved in time for March 14...

The ‘Loose Change’ scheme involves suppliers placing special, coin-shaped stickers in denominations of 50p or £1 – available from Greenfingers – on products of their choice, either before despatch or after delivery to the retailer. 

The selected products can then be featured in dedicated Garden Re-Leaf Day product displays set up by participating garden centres, with the stickers showing consumers how much money the supplier will donate to the Greenfingers ‘Rosy Cheeks Appeal’ upon purchase of the goods.

The Loose Change initiative aims to ensure no supplier, or retailer, misses out on Garden Re-Leaf Day’s promotional and fund-raising opportunities due to time and budget constraints. 

The idea was devised by former Gardman marketing director Jane Lawler, who is now helping to support the partnership between Greenfingers and Garden Re-Leaf Day. 

Jane (left) explained:  “Loose Change offers a fast and easy way for product suppliers and growers to take part in Garden Re-Leaf Day and be associated with the appeal.  You can buy just a few stickers for a small display in a single centre, or hundreds for distribution across all your participating customers.  

"The consumer pays just the normal in store price – but with the knowledge that 50p or £1 of their purchase is being paid to the Greenfingers Rosy Cheeks Appeal on their behalf by the product supplier.”

The Greenfingers Rosy Cheeks Appeal aims to raise £750,000 over two years to fund the creation of at least ten more, unique children’s hospice gardens.  “By suppliers offering these specially labelled products, Greenfingers will be able to give more families the gift of spending precious time together in the fresh air, away from the hospice bedside, in carefully designed gardens,” added Jane.

The Loose Change initiative follows the announcement of support for the Garden Re-leaf Day quiz from celebrities such as Jude Law, David Tennant, Alistair MacGowan and Patsy Palmer; and a competition for garden centres to win a visit from ITV’s Love Your Garden presenter, David Domoney.

Garden centres across the UK are registering to run special events and activities for Garden Re-Leaf Day, which takes place on Friday 14^th March and across the weekend.

Find out more

• Suppliers looking to take part in the Loose Change promotion should call 01494 674749 or contact info@gardenreleaf.co.uk
• Retailers and suppliers wanting to participate in Garden Re-Leaf Day need to register their details on www.gardenreleaf.co.uk
• Retailers looking to enter the free, ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition should email info@gardenreleaf.co.uk by the closing date of February 7
• Anyone wishing to run the Garden Re-Leaf Day Celebrity Gardening Quiz, can order an organiser’s pack (£100) from 0118 930 8918 or email pat@gca.org.uk

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.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2012 as well as 2013 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 Veg-2-Gro Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing 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.