The high-spec new look garden centre at Haskins Snowhill, which had to close its doors shortly after opening because of lockdown, is now being fully appreciated by customers, staff and the building’s developers.
Prior to lockdown the store was performing brilliantly, and it is already starting to bounce back to provide a welcome shopping experience for Haskins’ loyal customer base, as well as new visitors.
Newspan managed the construction of the new building and the company’s sales manager Dan Woods re-visited the store recently.
“It’s great to be back at Snowhill to see a project that we are incredibly proud of,” said Dan. “The attention to detail of our design team really has helped deliver something great. Haskins have done a brilliant job on the fit out – the whole building looks fantastic. You can also see the hard work that the staff have put in to make customers feel safe in the current climate”.”
Newspan were approached by Haskins in 2018 to discuss the new project at their Snowhill site in Crawley. The brief was to build a new garden centre whilst the store continued to trade out of a separate temporary building.
The £15 million investment would provide a footprint of 11,813m2 including retail area, outdoor plant area, a 440-seat restaurant and outdoor seating for 170 restaurant guests. Up to 70 new jobs would be created to accommodate the centre’s expansion. Car parking would also be improved with 346 spaces for visitors to use.
Newspan worked closely with the Haskins team throughout and were on always on hand to discuss design and project detail. The end result is an extremely high spec building that performs as good as it looks. Snowhill offers a contemporary shopping experience with the same high quality that Haskins customers have come to expect.
Soon after opening the UK was forced into lockdown and Snowhill had to close its doors, along with other Haskins sites and the rest of the industry. When the Government guidelines allowed customers to return they were met with an impressive strategy devised by Haskins to allow customers to shop and, mostly importantly, feel safe. This included restrictions on customer numbers, clear directions/information throughout the store, extended opening hours to spread out customer visits, high volumes of communication on social media and even YouTube videos to explain what to expect when visiting.
See the August issue of GTN to read an interview with Warren Haskins. Click here for the digital version.