GTN Xtra - GTN Xtra - Issue 1 2019

Brookside Garden Centre in Kent has decided not to produce its award-winning grotto in the foreseeable future because it has got ‘too big’ for the family business. After celebrating its 10^th anniversary this Christmas, the grotto has become the victim of its own success, having won multiple GTN Christmas Awards for its innovation and popularity.

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Records broken as garden centres report on Christmas trading

As the GTN Bestsellers All Trading Index reports December garden centre trading up by 10% on last year, GTN Xtra has been asking garden centres across the country for their feedback on Christmas trading and their early views on overall trading for 2018.

Here are reports from Bents, Ruxley Manor, Planters, Klondyke Strikes, Fresh @ Burcot and Alton Garden Centres...

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Dobbies records strong Christmas performance

Dobbies Garden Centres has recorded strong figures this Christmas with total sales of £24.1m being 21% higher than the same period last year. The garden centre retailer also saw record real Christmas tree sales and record restaurant sales...

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Haskins Snowhill unveils plans for redevelopment

The popular Haskins Snowhill Garden Centre has announced plans for redevelopment, with a revamped centre due to open in spring 2020. The scheme will create up to 70 new jobs and will cost £15m...

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Real reindeer success at Planters despite protests

Real reindeers, and camels, proved to be a big success at Planters Garden Centre despite protests by animal rights activists posted on Facebook...

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Evergreen Garden Care strengthens commercial team

Evergreen Garden Care UK has strengthened its commercial team with three new senior appointments within marketing and sales...

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GCA conference to hear from broadcaster Tanya Beckett

The Garden Centre Association has added BBC broadcaster Tanya Beckett to its line-up of guest speakers at its annual conference on January 20-23...

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Peckish Channel 4 sponsorship goes live

In December it was announced that Peckish will be sponsoring the Channel 4 Weather bulletins, as part of wider plans to boost brand awareness and the wild bird card market. The “Love Every Bird” campaign, which will expose the Peckish name to 10.4 million viewers, aired for the first time this week. Click here to view the adverts.

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RHS future proofs UK’s largest garden plant repository

The UK’s largest repository of dried garden plants will be available online after the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) digitised its collection of specimens dating from 1731, future-proofing it for gardeners...

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£1,000 bursary award will encourage industry new entrants

The British Protected Ornamentals Association’s Peter Seabrook Bursary is seeking to reward young horticulturists with £1,000 to support their study of commercial horticulture.

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Show customers the way to their perfect garden

This February, the HTA is encouraging you to promote the message that ‘Gardening is Good for You!’ in a campaign supported by National Garden Gift Vouchers...

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GTN Dec 18-Jan 19 Issue. To view a digital version click here

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GCA members reminded to enter Worrall Cup

Members of the Garden Centre Association are this month being reminded to compete for the chance to win the Worrall Cup. The cup will be awarded to the garden centre with the best marketing campaign or initiative

Get set for Spring with HTA Practical Workshops

What better way to ensure sales opportunities are maximised this spring than by booking onto a HTA Workshop?

Kent & Stowe – Specialist Weeding Range

Kent & Stowe has developed a comprehensive range of stainless steel weeding tools to tackle even the most laborious of tasks...

Producers to share new research on consumers of garden care products

The Common Sense Gardening group plans to use next month's Garden Press Event in London to share with journalists the findings of new research on who buys garden care products and why...

The best of last week's

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

GTN Xtra's most read stories of 2018

2018 was a year of extremes weather wise and a series of events that will shape our UK garden retailing market for years to come. As a result GTN Xtra was read by over 45,000 people during 2018 and they viewed almost 1.2 million pages, a monthly pages viewed average of 98,584. But what were the most read stories during one of the busiest in our memory for industry news?

See the full Top 100 most read stories of 2018

Wyevale sells Chichester to property developer

Wyevale Garden Centres has sold its Chichester site to local property developer Drayton Investments Ltd...

Garden centre fears devastation during 5-month road closure

Gloucestershire garden centre Trioscape is fighting a proposal by Severn Trent Water to close a 2.6k section of the main road outside for five months...

Storm Deirdre takes gloss off Christmas

Storm Deirdre may have had devastating effects on high street retail footfall but it didn’t stop garden centres selling as much in total as the snow of last year. Top line volume sales analysis from GTN Bestsellers shows that volume sales for last week were up by 12% on the same week last year and on a par with the week after Easter earlier this year.

Family shines through at Bents Garden & Home

‘Bents equals family and family equals Bents’; one of the main messages to come from recent customer focus groups held by Warrington based Bents Garden & Home and designed to gain a deeper understanding of its customer base and awareness of its popular be inspired privilege club...