Warrington based Bents Garden & Home is set to embark on Phase 2 of its £10m vision for the future. The family run garden centre will begin work on the latest stage of its mission to become the North West’s ultimate garden, home and leisure destination in early January.

The latest stage in the Bents’ journey includes major extensions to existing departments and the addition of a number of new leading brand concessions; together significantly enhancing the amount of retail space at Bents. Work will also commence on the construction of a new roundabout on the A574, Warrington Road.

As part of  the works, the award winning Fresh Approach Restaurant will undergo a major extension and the popular Food Hall will double in size to include a several fresh deli counters. Both the Children’s Boutique and Pet Care department will increase in size with plans for a groom room and pet café. 

Says Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents: “We’ve come a long way since the Bents’ business was established by my grandparents nearly 75 years ago and the journey so far has been hugely enjoyable. Feedback on the work we’ve carried out to date has been extremely positive and despite growing in size we want to retain all the great things we already do. We want to keep the great feeling and ambiance we have worked hard to create, but in a bigger store.

“Whilst never forgetting our gardening heritage we’ve worked hard to create a destination that is no longer just focussed on the garden but also encompasses home, lifestyle, leisure and a day out. The latest stage of our journey aims to build on the work we’ve done so far and help us reach our ultimate mission; a one stop shop which provides visitors with a quality alternative to large scale shopping centres, without losing any of the choice, quality, levels of service or family friendly environment that we have established a reputation for.”

Phase 2 plans also incorporate a number of community initiatives demonstrating the wider role the centre plays.  Work on an extensive children’s play area and community allotments will be complete in late 2014, which - along with the new roundabout - will provide the village of Glazebury with an attractive and welcoming entrance feature.

Once work is finished plans will get underway for the third phase of development, which will include a 2 storey glazed atrium and striking new entrance area which will tie together various elements of the project and complete the new look Bents Garden & Home. 

The important ‘Nine Days’ - that's the average amount of time it takes for consumers to complete a purchase.It's just one of the unexpected facts to emerge from the first LOFA Market Research report. 

LOFA commissioned ShopperCentric, a specialist shopper behaviour agency, to conduct a wide ranging independent study and analysis of the current market. The headline finding is that the size of the Outdoor Leisure market in 2013 was in the region of £975M, significantly higher than previous estimates of the market. 

The data also shows that the general public still prefer to see and touch garden furniture and barbecues before purchase, although the internet is playing a bigger role in research and final purchase.

Three in ten people now buy on-line but, significantly on-line business accounts for 40% of the value. ShopperCentric also identified four distinct consumer categories. 

This study forms a baseline of the market and LOFA plans to update it at regular intervals. 

Paul Bevington, LOFA’s Chairman commented: “This report is long overdue, but we now have information that will be invaluable to the whole industry. It is an important source of reference that our members can share with their customers for the benefit of everyone in the trade.” 

Santa has proved to be a bigger attraction than ever at UK garden centres with stores reporting record numbers of families taking advantage of the superb Christmas displays and grottos.

Last week’s sales volumes, as reported in the GTN Bestsellers Epos weekly data, make it the second highest for volume sales, only beaten by the week ending June 2 this year. And it’s not just Christmas sales and Santa visits that are driving the increases – almost every indoor sales category is up, including gardening.

The Garden Products Top 50 reveals a clear crossover with Christmas as customers decorate their gardens as well as indoors plus buy gardening products as gifts.

The Greatest Christmas Awards team is nearing the end of its epic travels to meet all of the 200-plus teams nominated in this year’s awards but there’s still time to get your customers to vote for you as The Greatest Garden Centre at Christmas – voting continues until December 24th. For more details contact trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

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

• Garden Products – up 14%
• Christmas – down 4%
• Growing Media – up 33%
• All items index – up 14%

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.

Stars for Europe (SfE) is an initiative set up by a group of poinsettia breeders to promote poinsettias across Europe. In 2011, SfE successfully applied for EU funding for the pan-European poinsettia campaign "Stars for Europe - Stars Unite". The UK was chosen to be a part of the campaign due to promising sales potential. In the UK we buy on average 0.1 poinsettias per person, as opposed to the 0.4/0.5 bought in Germany. The goal of the EU campaign is to stabilize the price level and raise total sales of poinsettias.

This year, for the fourth year running, Stars for Europe have been promoting poinsettias to consumers in the run-up to Christmas by showing them that, far from being a granny plant, they’re fresh and stylish and endlessly versatile.

Peter Seabrook and The Sun have carried out the successful Poinsettias for Schools campaign for the third year in a row, giving mini plants to pupils of primary schools across the UK, and providing larger plants to decorate their Christmas plays. This year, some of the schools have taken their plants to local retirement homes to bring some Christmas cheer to the residents.

This year has been the year of the Lonely Poinsettia, where florists all across the UK have been decorating a poinsettia plant (or making a poinsettia cut flower bouquet), wrapping it up well, and leaving it for someone to adopt. There have been heart-warming stories from florists and finders alike, showing the power of a small, bright red, gesture of kindness from a stranger.

There’s been an on-going consumer press campaign, resulting in poinsettias featuring in high-end lifestyle titles such as The English Home, House Beautiful, Homemaker, Fusion Flowers and Period Ideas, not to mention a fantastic slideshow on the Telegraph website.

Florist magazine commissioned a photoshoot of new, fun, saleable designs using poinsettias for their Autumn/Winter issue, to encourage florists to make the most of them as a low-cost, but very high-impact cut flower. Check out page 23 of the digital magazine.

And to top it all off, on Thursday, to celebrate International Poinsettia Day, designer florist Neill Strain constructed a six-foot high Christmas Star out of hundreds of poinsettias, to the astonishment of press and passers-by alike.

But it’s not too late to get in on the action. Stars for Europe have a wealth of materials on their website to help you market your own plants.

There are online banners and apps for your website, and a fun tool for putting Christmas decorations on your facebook page.  There are hundreds of high resolution, stylish images for you to use in your marketing, and special guidelines for getting the press interested in your business. There’s downloadable, professional-looking POS material you can customise with your own information, and films with ideas for poinsettia displays. 

And you know what? It’s all absolutely free. Why not take a few minutes to see what’s on www.sfe-web.com. As an added incentive, if you use the materials on the website, and send us a picture or link to what you’ve done, you could win fabulous poinsettia umbrellas for you and your staff*.

*Maximum three per shop

The Garden Centre Association has revealed the regional winners of its annual Christmas display competition.

Twelve garden centres have been named as having the best Christmas displays in their region. The two overall winners will be announced at the GCA annual conference in January.

GCA Chairman, Peter Burks said: “We continue to be amazed by how our members raise the standards of their Christmas displays, this year’s competition was fiercer than ever. Congratulations to all our winners.”

The results are as follows for the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) and Garden Centre (GC) categories: Bents (DGC) in Cheshire and All in One Garden Centre (GC) in Manchester came top in the North West. Ransoms (DGC), Jersey and Castle Gardens (GC), Dorset were the winners in the South Thames region.

Meanwhile in the Wales and West area, Endsleigh (DGC) in Devon and Raglan (GC) in Wales are in pole position with Van Hage Great Amwell (DGC) in Hertfordshire and Sunshine Garden Centre in London coming out top in the North Thames region.

In the North East, Armitage’s Pennine Garden Centre (DGC) and Armitage’s (GC) Birchencliffe Garden Centre both in West Yorkshire came first and in the Midlands the winners were Van Hage Peterborough (DGC) in Cambridgeshire (pictured above) and St Peters Garden Centre (GC) in Worcestershire (below with judge for the Midlands area, Guy Topping.)

Peter added: “I am currently carrying out the final judging, where one Destination Garden Centre and one Garden Centre will be crowned as overall winners.

“The garden centres are judged on the innovation, inspiration and excitement created from the way their Christmas products are displayed. The range of products available, accessibility, how easy it is for customers to find and select products and ‘wow factor’ are also taken into consideration.

“We will be announcing the overall winners and they will then receive their prizes at the GCA annual conference, which takes place at the Hilton Blackpool Hotel in Blackpool from January 26 until 29.”



Pictured: Armitages Pennine (above).  See the story below for links to more Christmas display pictures in GTN Xtra

Garden products are still benefiting from the high footfall at garden centres with the GTN Bestsellers chart showing sales volumes nearly 24% higher than last week and 14% above the same seven-day period in 2012. In fact the volumes are higher than any of the first 13 weeks of 2013.

There’s no doubt that seasonal house plants are driving sales of associated products, like the Fito Drip Feeder for Poinsettia and Christmas Cactus, which has taken over the top spot.

Scheurich Cover Pots then fill Nos 2 and 3 with Dark Red and Cream, and the smaller 7cm Red Cover Pot is the highest new entry at No 35.

Decorative animals are also proving popular as Vivid Arts fill three of the top 10 places with Playful Polar Bear (sitting and standing versions) and Playful Penquin. The Small Robin is also a new entry at No 46.

Smart Solar Bright Eye Stoney Owl is another newcomer to the chart, arriving at No 44.

Maybe some of these items are being bought as Christmas presents. The highest climber, Yeoman Soft Grip Secateur Raspberry Red is another example.

The highest re-entry is a Bestsellers favourite – Classic Wheelie Bin Numbers. Are people using them to make bespoke ‘Santa Stop!’ signs?

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

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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.

The venture will operate as a standalone business within Westland, with Davies having full autonomy and decision-making powers. The business will be based initially at Westland’s Alconbury site in Cambridgeshire, using Westland’s infrastructure for start-up.

Davies told GTN Xtra: “Westland are investors in this but we shall have the freedom to do what we have to do.” He expects the business to begin trading early next year.

Davies said: “The aim of the new company is to bring to market a range of new ideas, concepts and products that will help drive the garden centre industry. I am in the process of pulling together a strong team to support me and will have further details in due course.”

Peter Madden, commercial director at Westland, said: “We are pleased to support Nick Davies in this new venture and help him to create this new garden products business focussed on quality and innovation. Nick has a strong track record and knowledge of the garden industry and I wish him and his team every success with this venture.”

Robbie took along his family, including pet dogs Walle and Poupette, to the grotto on Pimlico Road.

"They just turned up after hearing about the grotto on the grapevine," said Sophie Birrell, from Lily's Kitchen.

"Robbie was fine with us snapping his dogs Walle and Poupette (pictured above with Santa Paws). He has eight dogs in total but brought along the two best behaved ones."

The Santa Paws Grotto, which is supporting the North London charity 'All Dogs Matter', has been a huge success with more than 1,000 dogs visiting it so far.

This canine Christmas wonderland, which is open until December 21, offers dogs (and their owners) a retreat from hectic Christmas shopping. The pooches can enjoy a freshly prepared Lily’s Kitchen Christmas Dinner for Dogs, while owners can secretly shop for doggy stocking fillers.

For every Christmas Dinner for Dogs purchased at the grotto, Lily’s Kitchen will donating a nutritious dinner to a dog in need to enjoy on Christmas Day. 

Henrietta Morrison, founder of Lily’s Kitchen, says: “It’s really important to us to give as much back as possible to our beloved dogs this year and All Dogs Matter is the perfect choice, being very close to our roots in Hampstead.”

Lily's Kitchen has produced a video called 'A Tale of Comfort and Joy' with the message that every dog should find a happy home at Christmas. View it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPZ7Dn0HCMc

For pictures of dogs visiting the Santa Paws Grotto visit www.facebook.com/lilyskitchen

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. Book early to avoid disappointment. For sponsorship opportunities at this prestigious event, call Pat Flynn on 01733 775700.

Buy using the dropdown menu:  These prices include VAT.

 

On the night sponsors:
   

  

Diarmuid Gavin has agreed to be one of the judges for the UK Student Design competition run by Alexander Rose.

The aim of the competition is to provide UK students on graduate and post-graduate Furniture and Product Design courses with a real life opportunity to design either a furniture set or individual piece of outdoor furniture. The winning project will be manufactured in the Alexander Rose factory in The Philippines, and exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show in May.

"The Alexander Rose UK Student Design competition will provide students with substantial work experience and the opportunity to see their design put into production," said Diarmuid.

Full details of the competition will be available on the Alexander Rose website – www.alexander-rose.co.uk/studentcompetition

Pictured:  Diarmuid Gavin(centre) with Borge Leth and Alan Morley of Alexander Rose.

The Kingfisher brand from Bonnington Plastics has enjoyed the biggest growth in the company’s history, with a 40% increase in turnover over 2012.

After more than 40 years trading, family owned Bonnington already has aggressive plans in place for the next five years.

Major investment plans are under way, including a 2014 catalogue double the size of this year’s. The addition of 350 new products across the garden and homeware ranges has secured new business and encouraged existing customers to take a larger Kingfisher selection.

Additions and enhancements include:

• Mr DIY (NEW): Value for money general DIY products with handy hints on full colour packaging from MR DIY® himself.
• Bird care: New bird accessories, feed and feeders
• Decorating: A new packaging concept has helped boost sales and appeal to a wider market
• Aquatics (NEW): Pond accessories, pond pumps, fountains and accessories
• Solar Lighting: Additions to novelty and decorative solar lighting are proving extremely popular
• Homeware: Additional laundry and cleaning items, plastic storage boxes and kitchen accessories
• Lifestyle (NEW): Air fresheners and general personal care items.
• Love to Cook: Kitchen equipment
• Christmas: Added to the popular Kingfisher ‘pre-buy’ deal, the expanded 2014 Christmas range offers even more great sales opportunities.

The 8,000 sq. ft. Kingfisher Showroom hosts more 2,000 products. You can make an appointment to visit through your sales contact and take advantage of exclusive discounts and cashback rewards.

Pre-buy deals offer up to eight pre-buy opportunities a year across the range, qualifying for an extra discount and enabling customers to allocate stock to be first to market.

The Kingfisher website (www.bonningtonplastics.com) is an excellent online ordering tool - check live stock, promotions and place orders with ease and efficiency. Free next day delivery is available for customers who order online. Bonnington is proud of its impressive 98% stock availability, achieved through investment in IT.

Kingfisher covers seven key market sectors, making it a one stop shop. With a commitment to value for money, continuously refreshed packaging and free POS units, Bonnington also says it won’t be beaten on price. Sales director Sergio Tartaglia says: “Simply Great Selling Products is what we believe in.”

Sergio adds: “The Kingfisher brand has been a big part of my life for the last 12 years. I am proud to be sales director for a rapidly growing company that offers customers something different. We have put together a team that understands what customers want. We like to think big and in 2014 are firmly focused on the best pricing, stock availability and service.”

Over 100 people took part in a special event in Belgravia yesterday to celebrate International Poinsettia Day, by posing with a giant 12ft Christmas Star of flowers outside Neill Strain's glamorous boutique, The Flower Lounge.

Irish-born Neill, the favoured florist of many stars like Lady Gaga, Joan Collins and Donatella Versace, transformed the front of his boutique into a Christmas photo booth with the massive Star, decorated with hundreds of poinsettias and a fair few twinkly lights.

For many, International Poinsettia Day starts the final countdown to Christmas Day. With their star-shaped leaves and range of exciting colours, poinsettias are THE flower of Christmas, not only perfect as a floral backdrop but for every home adding instant pizzazz and colour.  

The Flower Lounge also showcased a wide range of exquisite designs created to demonstrate the diversity of the star-shaped flower, both as a cut flower and a plant, and to inspire ideas for Christmas decor.

A gallery of Christmas Stars  can be found at www.facebook.com/TheChristmasStar 

Christmas is a time for granting wishes and making dreams come true which is why Bents Garden & Home was more than happy to help when approached with a fairly unusual request.

Ruth Thomas, owner of Culcheth-based Room31 wholesale, wanted to be an Elf.  And Bents helped make that wish come true with the offer for Ruth to be Santa’s special helper at the Centre’s recent Family Fun Weekend.

Having not celebrated Christmas until the age of 21, Ruth is now Christmas crazy and goes all out to celebrate in every way possible. This year it was her dream to be an elf and once kitted out with her festive uniform and rosy red cheeks, Ruth took to her role like an expert and spent two very busy days in charge of Santa’s reindeer.  

Said Ruth:  “I had an amazing weekend helping Santa and his reindeer at Bents. Being able to witness the excitement, belief and delight on the children’s faces who were meeting Santa and his reindeer (some of them for the first time) was really special and quite over-whelming. I really do love Christmas and being able to volunteer as an elf whilst raising money for such a great cause and being involved in looking after Santa’s reindeer was a dream come true. Thank you to the wonderful team at Bents for looking after me”

Ruth also helped sell hot punch and mince pies, with all proceeds going to The Christie, Bents’ charity of the year 2013.

Added Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden & Home:  “At first we weren’t sure what to make of this request as we don’t come across many people who want to be an elf for a day!  But when we met Ruth we were bowled over by her enthusiasm and were more than happy to help!

“It’s great to meet someone who is so excited about Christmas and we were delighted to be able to help make her dream come.  She was a fantastic elf who got an excellent report from Father Christmas!”

Visitors to PATS Sandown in March can expect a busy and exciting show as all exhibitor stands at the two-day event have now been sold.

The Surrey and Esher Halls at Sandown Park will be packed with stands showcasing new products. And with the ‘Sold Out’ signs being posted already, there will be lots to see and talk about on the 160 exhibition stands.

Show organiser Annie Dyke said: “I’m happy to report that we’ll have the whole pet trade exhibiting under one roof at Sandown. As well as our regular exhibitors we’ll be welcoming a number of new and international companies. They obviously regard PATS as their major platform to showcase products to buyers.”

Visitors can expect a warm welcome from companies like Trixie, Cosipet, Collarways, Company of Animals, Red Mills, Flexi, My Pet, Gladwells, Burns, Wagg, Danish Design, Best Pets, Dorwest Herbs, Anco Distributors, Scruffs, and Kennelpak.

And as well as meeting up with a long list of PATS regulars, visitors will be greeted by a host of new faces when the show takes place on Tuesday, March 18, and Wednesday, March 19.

A growing number of companies are choosing to exhibit for the first time as they see PATS as the perfect opportunity to showcase their products to retailers and overseas distributors. These include Aqueos, Butch & Bess, Din Dins, Dogs Dogs Dogs, Ferplast, Happy Pet, Pet Dream House, Pillow Wad, PMS International and Veggie Pooch.

Butch & Bess is a relative newcomer to the UK pet trade and will be making its first PATS appearance at Sandown.

“We’ve recently entered the market with a range of natural, gorgeously scented pet grooming products made with meticulously selected essential oils,” said Mark Hirschel, from Butch & Bess. “This will be our first time at PATS and we’ll be inviting retailers, wholesalers, and distributors to our stand for a chat and a sniff, with the aim of securing both UK and export orders for our beautiful British products.”

Soopapets will also be appearing at Sandown for the first time. “I exhibited at Harrogate in September and it proved to me the importance of PATS,” said Barbara Hanly. “I’ve been working on a training treat with Din Dins and we hope to officially launch the product at Sandown.”

There is a growing number of international exhibitors choosing to use PATS as the best platform to showcase its products to the UK market, and these include Demavic Laboratoire (France), Lafeber Company (USA), Pets Wellness EU (The Netherlands), Petwalk Solutions (Austria) and SSP Proline (The Netherlands).

PATS Sandown 2013 attracted 1,847 visitors, which was an 8% increase on the 2012 show, and with so many exciting plans for 2014 it could easily be another record-breaking year.

The Southern show will be bigger with the introduction of the Sandown View Lounge, where visitors can relax and enjoy a spectacular sight of the racecourse.

To help make the visitor experience even more enjoyable and rewarding, both the Surrey and Esher Halls have their own entrances and registration points, with visitors benefitting from free show entry, free parking, a free catalogue and many special offers.

To help keep visitors refreshed during their visit they’ll be offered a free cup of tea or coffee, and for those arriving before 10am they’ll receive a breakfast voucher, which is redeemable in the Esher Hall catering points.

It will also be full of popular features, including the New Products Showcase and Awards, a full programme of free seminars, and the Grooming Workshop. To register for your free entry to the show visit www.patshow.co.uk

Jo Wheatley, the 2011 winner of BBC’s The Great British Bake Off, will be the inspirational speaker at the HTA Catering Conference, which takes place on February 12 at the Hilton Hotel, Coventry.

Aimed garden centre catering operators the HTA Catering Conference, sponsored by Vision Commercial Kitchens, brings together industry experts and practitioners in order to showcase best practice, provide inspiration, tackle key common issues and look at the trends that lie ahead for garden centre catering. Building on the success of last year’s conference the 2014 event will include a larger exhibition where suppliers to the trade will demonstrate products and equipment to delegates.

The conference will start with a look at the journey that garden centre catering has made within a relatively short time with speakers including Ellie Yates from the Colonial Café at Plantation Garden Company and HTA Chief Executive Carol Paris.

There will be breakout sessions, including improving service speeds (Neil Fedden, Fedden USP), coping with peaks in demand (Chris Roberts, Van Hage Garden Centres), sourcing locally (Greg and Sophie Timmermans-Delves, Timmermans Garden Centres) and recruiting the right staff (Guy Moreton, MorePeople).

Jason Danciger, Food and Beverage Director from The Garden Centre Group (and formally from M&S), will share his experience to give tips on how garden centres can set themselves apart from the high street. This will be followed by a panel debate on waitress service versus self-service involving Alan Roper (Blue Diamond Garden Centres), Guy Topping (Barton Grange Garden Centre) and Jane Cox (Glendoick Garden Centre).

The final session looks ahead at new trends for garden centre cafés. Jemma Swallow owner of The Tea Box in Richmond upon Thames will explore why loose leaf tea is the next big trend in cafes and how it can set you apart from your competition.

The final speaker will be baker, author and blogger Jo Wheatley who, since winning The Great British Bake Off, has set up her own cookery school where she can share her passion for baking. Jo is self-taught and a great example of what can be possible in garden centre cafés. She will share with delegates new trends in baking and give some inspiration on what to bake for tomorrow’s customer.

HTA Chief Executive Carol Paris comments: “Garden centre catering has evolved significantly since the first HTA Catering Conference in 2007. It continues to play an increasingly important role in the make-up of the garden centre environment. This event brings together a wealth of expertise from inside and outside the industry and I encourage all those involved in garden centre catering to attend.”

Demand for this event is anticipated to be high and so make sure you don’t miss out by booking your place at http://www.cateringconference.co.uk/index.php/book-online or emailing events@the-hta.org.uk

Book before 17 January to benefit from a £25 early bird discount.

Sales volumes for Christmas products have increased by over 14% on the previous week as shoppers get into the festive mood.

The GTN Bestsellers Christmas Product chart is dominated by two companies – Premier Decorations has 19 entries and Keamingk 16.

Premier have five products in the Top 10 while Kaemingk claim the highest new entry, highest re-entry and highest climber accolades.

Indoor and outdoor lighting is a key seller at the moment and the Kaemingk Indoor Battery Operated LED lights (20 warm white) are the highest new entry at No 23.

Kaemingk have also seen their Angel Hair White/Iris become the highest re-entry at No 15 and their Rose On Clip with Glitter, Oxblood, jump 21 places to No 16 to claim the highest climber prize.

Another newcomer is the Festive Chunky Cut Tinsel at No 49 while History & Heraldry retain top for another week with Christmas Money Box.

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.

Fiskars has entered into an agreement to sell its UK garden container, propagation and water storage business, Sankey, and the related manufacturing assets. The transaction will enable Fiskars UK to further increase focus on Fiskars' pan-European offering and international brand portfolio.

The divestment of the local Sankey business to Strata Products Ltd is a part of Fiskars' EMEA 2015 restructuring program, which aims to optimise the company's supply chain and align sales units with the company's operating model. The Sankey business had a turnover of EUR 11.7 million in 2012.

"Fiskars' leading position in garden hand tools in the highly competitive UK garden and DIY market provides a strong platform for exploring new business opportunities. Fiskars UK is now in an excellent position to focus sales efforts on Fiskars' international core categories by utilising the Group's world-class product and brand offering," says John Grayson, Managing Director for Fiskars UK.

The divestment of the UK-based Sankey business and manufacturing will have no effect on Fiskars' regional Ebertsankey brand, which is being launched in several markets. Ebertsankey specialises in grow-it-yourself and indoor and outdoor garden containers. Earlier this year, Ebertsankey won an esteemed red dot design award for their Helsinki pot.

Vital Earth Peat Free Soil Improver (50 litres) has recorded impressive sales, according to the latest GTN Bestsellers Growing Media data.

It has resulted in the product returning to the chart as the highest re-entry. Another product returning to the Top 50 bestsellers is Scotts Levington Ericaeous Compost (56 litres).

The highest climber is Westland West+ Light & Easy Compost (60 litres) with 4 months feed.

Another outstanding performer is Shamrock Multipurpose Compost (50 litres).

See the full GTN Growing Media 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.

A Christmas themed video designed to prompt the protection of wild birds has been launched by Westland Horticulture for its Peckish brand.

The short animation, created by Aardman Animations, is a festive themed story of hope, humour and survival against all the odds. Set to the soundtrack of Jingle Bells, it tells the story of a #PeckishCat and the hungry birds in his snow covered garden.

The animation was launched on YouTube (to view click here) and is in the process of being shared on other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, where the hashtag #PeckishCat is being used. It is also available to view on the Peckish website, along with a downloadable activity pack for consumers, which contains advice on how to protect the birds in your garden, a bird spotting game and colouring in page for children.

Rachael Dickinson, Senior Brand Manager for Peckish said: “We wanted to do something for Christmas that was a bit different this year. Here at Peckish, we care about birds as much as our customers do and when we found out that up to 55 million birds are killed every year by cats, we wanted to do something to help.

“This campaign aims to educate people about the measures they can take to protect the birds in their garden. We are encouraging people to watch the video and share it with their family and friends. Also, by downloading activity pack on our website, they could win a Christmas hamper full of Peckish products. There will also be a whole host of opportunities to win prizes on Facebook and Twitter sites in the run up to Christmas.”

To watch the #PeckishCat www.peckishbirdfood.com/peckishcat Animation and download the activity pack, ‘like’ the Westland Horticulture Facebook page, follow us on Twitter @PeckishBirdFood or log ontohttp://www.peckishbirdfood.com/

The owners of Roots Garden Centre in Hermitage near Thatcham, Berks, have been forced to close their business after a suspected arson during the early hours of Monday morning.

Fire crews were called at 3am to the centre in Priors Court Road, Hermitage.

Owners, Mark Etwell and his wife Jackie were asleep at their Newbury home as the fire raged and were shocked to discover several messages on their mobile telephones when they woke up.

“We are devastated,” said Mrs Etwell. “We are a family business trying to make an honest living."

A porch at the garden centre was completely destroyed and the café was estimated to have around 25% smoke damage.

Mr Etwell said they were uninsured and the damage would run into tens of thousands of pounds.

He said he and his wife were “determined not to allow this to break us,” and had started a clean-up operation at the café, regularly used for community events, such as table top sales.

“We started sweeping the soot off the wall and you can see the paint, but it will need completely redecorating and rewiring – it’s a lot of work,” he said, adding they had received some offers of help from local people.

Mr Etwell, who said they hoped to re-open in mid-January, said security would be stepped up at the garden centre, with someone living on site with dogs, to add to the existing CCTV security system.

Thames Valley Police spokeswoman, Rhianne Pope, confirmed police were called to the fire at 3.29am and were treating the incident as a suspected arson.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact police on the non emergency telephone number, 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously, telephone 0800 555 111.

Grower associations around the world are invited to enter a candidate into the prestigious International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) International Grower of the Year awards 2014 in association with FloraCulture International.  There can only be one candidate from each country but now is the time to be thinking about entering.

AIPH Secretary General, Tim Briercliffe, commented “There is no higher accolade for a nursery than to win the prize of International Grower of the Year.  I want to encourage every country, whether they are an AIPH member or not, to select the best of their best growers of flowers, ornamental plants or trees, to enter the competition.”

Entrants will be assessed against detailed criteria by an international jury of industry experts.  One of the judges, Gery Heungens from Belgium, commented “We will carefully scrutinise all entrants to ensure the Gold, Silver and Bronze rose winners are worthy of the title.  Past winners have shown the high standard we are looking for and truly demonstrate the outstanding businesses that exist within our industry.  We are looking for strong economic performance, high levels of innovation, an effective marketing strategy, high environmental standards and exemplary human resource management amongst other things.”

Winners will be announced at a Gala Awards Dinner in Qingdao, China in September 2014 and finalists will be flown to the event for what will be an occasion they will never forget.

Commenting on their success the 2013 winner of the Gold Rose, Bill Stensson from Sheridan Nurseries in Canada, said “We were thrilled to have been awarded the Gold Rose in the International Grower of the Year competition.  Global recognition like this really makes our business stand out from the crowd.  It undoubtedly has helped us drive growth and the staff think it is wonderful too.  I would strongly encourage grower associations to enter candidates for the competition.”

For more information on entering the competition contact the AIPH Secretary General, Tim Briercliffe, on sg@aiph.org or phone +44 118 930 8956.

West Country-based company Soho Coffee Co has launched a new partnership with Highfield Garden World in Gloucestershire.

Staff at The Millbrook Garden Company have presented a cheque for more than £2,000 to its Charity of the Year - chYps Children’s Hospice at Home.

The company, which has garden centres in Gravesend and Highgrove, Kent, and Crowborough, East Sussex, donated £2,103.41 to chYps Children’s Hospice at Home.

Tammy Woodhouse, Managing Director of The Millbrook Garden Company, said: “We raised the money through our events and collection boxes during 2013. I also took part in a Sponsored Chilli Dip in March. I swam in a freezing swimming pool and managed to raise £970 for chYps.  

“We would like to thank all our customers who donated any money throughout the year. chYps is such a worthy cause as it provides full hospice care for children at home. We have also decided to continue supporting the charity in 2014 too.”  

chYps is the Children and Young Peoples’ Service of EllenorLions Hospices. It is the UK’s first children’s hospice at home service and one of only a very few acute services providing oncology and end of life care to children in the home. The charity provides care for the whole family and its services extend across the whole of West Kent.

Rachel Holweger, Director of Fundraising at chYps, said: “We are so grateful to Millbrook for supporting the charity. Thanks to everyone who helped raise such a fantastic amount for chYps.  

“We are Kent’s only children’s hospice at home, and as a charity we rely on the generosity of the local community to be able to provide vital end-of-life, respite and cancer care to seriously ill babies, children and young people.”

Pictured: Daniel Hume, Garden Centre Manager at Millbrook, presents a cheque for £2,104.41 on behalf of all the garden centres to Karen McClure, chYps Ambassador.

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.