Garden Centre volume sales grew by 4.2% year on year in 2019 according to the full year analysis of the GTN Bestsellers Volume sales data.

That makes it a record year for garden centre volume sales, even beating the previous high, recorded by GTN Bestsellers in 2017, by 1.6%.

We'll publish more analysis of 2019 sales volumes in the next issue of GTN Xtra, along with the Top100 Bestselling Christmas Products of the Year.

Subscribe to the GTN Bestsellers weekly Top 50 garden centre sales charts using this link

Richard Pyrah has more than 30 years in the garden market, but he believes this pre-season has been the best he’s ever experienced. AMES UK are reporting an uplift on 2018 of over 46% on a like for like basis across Kelkay, Woodshaw and La Hacienda.

Richard told GTN: “We enjoyed our best ever GLEE in September with significant sales and order growth coming from our core garden centre customers. Certainly, the new product ranges contributed, but the most satisfying trend is the strong growth in our core categories from our loyal customers.”

Richard’s focus for the next few weeks is in the customer service arena where he believes there are opportunities to adopt some best practices from the different teams within the AMES UK group. They’re starting with operational improvements in the way that bespoke point of sale design and print is delivered to garden centres. The aim is to provide a more flexible approach and to improve on speed and efficiency in response to individual garden centre needs.

The business is also embarking on a programme of insight work into core landscape categories and the results of feedback from garden centres will help to shape their future developments.

Richard added: “We want to understand how our customers see the future of the category and the successful development of the business over the coming years. That’s why we will be focussing on the views and experiences of our garden centre customers in a structured programme of insight research in early 2020. I’m really looking forward to working with our customers on the next phase of our development.”

To read more about AMES UK and its bestselling brands click here for our GTN Xtra Special on the company.

For more information on The AMES Companies go to http://global.ames.com

To find out more about Kelkay  go to www.kelkay.com or e-mail the general enquiries office on salesenquiries@kelkay.co.uk or call to speak to us on 01405 869333.

To find out more about La Hacienda go to www.lahacienda.co.uk or call to speak to us on 01285 762060.

Rob Monk, of Wentworth Garden Centre, has praised Corby & Fellas’ WinRetail system and had this to say about the service:

"As a large, independent garden centre we realised a manual cash register system was no longer fit for purpose and so began to search for a provider of an EPoS system that would fit our strict criteria. We were looking for a company that could provide reliable technology, an easy to use and powerful system that would offer all the data and information we needed, together with a helpful and knowledgeable support team.

"We invited three of the main EPoS providers in the garden centre industry to pitch to us and were blown away by not only how easy Corby & Fellas’ WinRetail system was to use, but by the amount of data and information it could provide. The other vendors that we spoke to could, simply, not compete on the number of reports that WinRetail could provide.

We also liked the fact that we could view sales data quickly and easily on our phones and tablets, something the other providers were lacking.

"It was obvious to us that Corby & Fellas is leading the way in garden centre EPoS systems and it was an easy decision to partner with them.

"Since making our decision in early 2019, we have now installed their system in our restaurant, where we have seen an increase in efficiency. We have also realised that our ‘best sellers’ weren’t what we thought they were, which means that we can consider whether or not we should make changes to our existing offers; particularly relevant as we have a new restaurant due to open in 2020.

"We then installed the system in one of our attractions (Wentworth Family Farm), which deals with admissions income and has a small toy shop, it gave us an insight into the information and management data we can expect to receive when we go live across the rest of the site in January 2020.

"Everyone we’ve spoken to at Corby & Fellas has been friendly, helpful and extremely efficient; anyproblems that we encountered have been dealt with swiftly, resolving the few teething problems that we’ve had along the way.

"We look forward to working with Corby & Fellas for many more years to come."

To find out more about Corby & Fellas’ WinRetail system visit www.corbyfellas.com

Squire’s Garden Centres has published its financial results for the year ending 31 July 2019. It was another year of record sales; turnover increased by 15% to £57m, helped by excellent weather conditions throughout the peak season. Turnover was also boosted by the addition of the newly acquired centre at Frensham, which joined the group on 1 August 2018. And in its first full year, the redeveloped Woking centre beat budget and made a strong contribution to sales growth.

Customer numbers in the garden centres, which dropped by 1% in the last financial year, rose by 10%. In the Café Bars, there was a very satisfactory gain of 6% (2018: +7%). Average transaction value (ATV) in the Garden Centres was up by +4% (2018: +3%) while in the Café Bars ATV rose +12% (2018: +5%). 

As a result of the substantial sales growth and improved margins, mitigated to some extent by higher payroll costs and overheads, profit before tax increased by 16% to £3.7m (LY: £3.2m) on an underlying basis.

Net debt (gross borrowings, less cash) dropped by £1.1m to £3.7m at the year-end.  Total capital investment in the year was £3.3m.

Notable events in the 2018/19 financial year included:

• Sarah Squire being appointed Chairman of the family business, taking over from her father Colin Squire OBE in January 2019.
• The start of a major extension of the shop and Café Bar at Squire’s in Milford in June 2019. The project will be completed by Spring 2020.
• Squire’s achieving success in the Garden Centre Association (GCA) inspections, with many of its centres being regional winners or finalists in their categories.

Following the purchase of Heathlands Garden Centre in Wokingham from Wyevale on 1 August 2019, the first day of the new financial year, Squire’s now has 16 garden centres across the South East. 

Squire’s is committed to continue growing the business in two ways. Firstly, by reinvesting profit back into its garden centres and Café Bars to keep upgrading them for staff and customers alike, and secondly by continuing to expand and acquire new centres. Squire’s believes it is vital to stick to what it is good at, and can control, aiming to ensure that its garden centres and Café Bars are attractive places to visit, with appealing ranges and excellent customer service on offer, while all the time focusing on keeping costs under control.

Plant Area at Squire’s Hersham.

A New Year always heralds change, ordinarily it’s a list of New Year’s Resolutions, a sense of new beginnings and a New Year full of exciting possibilities.

Not wanting to be left behind LOFA are starting this new decade as they mean to go on, with a new look and new branding, making their resolution to be bolder and brighter for 2020. Taking inspiration from the Spring and Summer months, their new logo is a sun shaped symbol paired with an impactful font which makes the brand more recognisable and ever so slightly stylish.

The LOFA Logo has always been, and will always be, synonymous with quality products, great customer service and value for money. LOFA members who show this symbol on their products and on their websites will instantly stand out from the crowd.

PLUS! The new branding also ushers in a new make over for the LOFA website. www.lofa.co.uk

So what’s NEW?

Well for starters a Product Showcase highlighting each and every one of the LOFA members, offering great imagery and a little bit of insight into who they are and what they do, there is an About Us page and a News & Events section so you can keep up to date with everything LOFA, a LOFA Assured page explaining all about the initiative that LOFA have been working on for the last 4 years, bringing cushions to the market place that comply with the current Government Fire Safety Regulations and lastly an area where members can log in and have current LOFA information at their finger tips.

So a bold, bright, image led, easy to navigate website but above all a great visitor experience.

New Year, New LOFA!

Clothing and houseplants were bestsellers at garden centres across the country according to the Garden Centre Association’s Barometer of Trade (BoT) report for November (2019).

Compared to the same month in 2018, sales in clothing were up 15.92% followed closely by houseplants at 15.38% up.

Iain Wylie, GCA Chief Executive explained: “It’s interesting to see non-traditional and traditional categories such as clothing and houseplants doing well at the same time of year. Items of clothing make great Christmas gifts, so it looks like customers were stocking up. The weather also became much chillier during November, so customers were also wrapping themselves up warm with new togs.

“The rise in sales of houseplants coincides with the introduction of festive houseplants such as Poinsettias, Cyclamen and Hyacinths and it looks like lots of customers were popping these in their baskets in order to bring some much-needed colour into their homes.

“Of course, there’s no surprise at this time of year that gift sales were up 11.48% and general Christmas sales were up 13.4% as people prepared for the ‘big day’.”

Sales in pets and aquatics departments were also up at 13.84%. Catering sales were up 10.54% and food hall and farm shop sales were up 8.26%.

Seed and bulb sales were up 3.97%, garden sundries sales were up at 5.26%.

Iain added: “Outdoor plant sales were down -5.82%, furniture and barbecue sales were down -10.61% and hard landscaping sales were down -19.3%, but this is to be expected thanks to the time of year and the weather.”

Overall sales for the month were up 8.63% with a year to date change of 5.99%.

The GCA BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement. They are made available mid-month following the end of the prior month after all member garden centres have submitted their results.

The BoT reports allow members to compare their trading positions with other centres.

The annual Garden Re-Leaf Day Sponsored Walk and Cycle Challenge has become an integral part of the Garden Re-Leaf activities, and this year the event will be finding itself a new home within the heart of the Chilterns.

The 2020 start point will be Chilton Garden centre, newly acquired by British Garden Centres in September last year. From here the walkers will have a choice of a 10-mile or 20-mile route, both of which will take them on a stunning tour of the Chiltern Hills, a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Cyclists will also embark upon either a 25, 50, 75 or 100-mile route that could take in the 276m elevation that enables the Chilterns to provide stunning views across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

The team at the Horticultural Trades Association have kindly offered to plan the walking routes, as well as opening the doors to its office ‘Horticulture House’ in Chilton as the end point for the day’s activities, where refreshments and a welcome place to rest will be made available.

To date, eager teams from Evergreen Garden Care, Far Plants, and Hornby Whitefoot PR have all signed up or pledged their support to take part in the sponsored walk or cycle challenge, with even more teams and individuals expected to sign up in the coming weeks. In 2019 over 120 people took part in the walk, with 15 more showing real pedal power by taking part in the cycle challenge. However, for 2020 the Greenfingers team is hoping to far exceed these numbers.

Linda Petrons, Director of Fundraising & Communications, said: “The Sponsored Walk and Cycle Challenge have become synonymous with Garden Re-Leaf Day, and each year we welcome more and more people to the event. This year, in what is Greenfingers 21st anniversary, we are asking the garden retail industry to get together with friends and colleagues to join in the fun. Whether you are walking as part of a team, or on your now, the sense of comradery and fun that keeps participants going is just superb and will help the time fly by as you complete mile after mile. We are endlessly grateful for those that participate in this fantastic event and look forward to welcoming everyone at this year’s event in just a few short months.”

Those interested in taking on the Garden Re-Leaf Sponsored Walk and Cycle Challenge can register by visiting https://www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk/gardenreleaf.

If you want to find out more about how to get involved in Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day 2020, whether by putting on events in your garden centre, through sponsored solo activities or simply by donating - contact the Greenfingers office on 01494 674749 or email Linda@greenfngerscharity.org.uk

Retailers who are taking stock of their festive season trading performance are being offered a helping hand to boost Christmas tree sales during 2020 – and turn around the fortunes of sales areas that fell below expectations. With the festive season established as a key point in the calendar to keep garden centre tills jingling, Premium Christmas Trees is working closely with retailers to tailor their tree offering and drive sales at the tail-end of the year.

Premium Christmas Trees, based at Chorley in Lancashire, has had its best season to date with record sales figures making 2019 a stellar year for the family-run business. The grower and supplier has spearheaded an approach that, by working closely with garden centres, empowers retail managers to customise their Christmas tree offering, ensuring that stock closely matches their customer demographic and utilises effective merchandising techniques to draw consumers’ attention to the most suitable trees for their homes. The company’s dedication to flexible deliveries – hand-selected, packed and delivered on the day of a retailer’s choice – serves to further enhance the buying experience.

Through innovation, Premium Christmas Trees, a proud member of the British Christmas Tree Growers’ Association, has pioneered a slimline version of its top-selling Nordmann fir which has proven its ability to maximise sales at retail outlets. The slimmer tree is a result of six years’ research and development with growers, taking lots of care, attention and specialist skills including hand-pruning every year for five years before allowing the tree to hone its shape for the final year.

According to research published in the national press, the average lounge at a new-build home is 32% smaller than at equivalent properties constructed in the 1970s. While living rooms of 24.9 square metres were commonplace 50 years ago, family living areas at properties built since 2010 have regressed – contracting to just 17.1 square metres, with space even tighter at studio or inner-city apartments. While the nation’s shrinking living rooms may have dissuaded consumers from purchasing a real Christmas tree in the past, slimline trees now have the potential to open-up new revenue streams for retailers.

Sophie Holt, Director of Premium Christmas Trees says: “Growing numbers of retailers understand that customers want a real tree but are aware that an increasing segment of the population now live in smaller homes. These consumers are seeking out slimmer trees that still provide the magical look and fragrance of their traditional counterparts but demand a fraction of the space. Our slimline Nordmann is 60-70% smaller than a conventional Nordmann and is always our first range to sell out. Premium Christmas Trees has always believed that innovation holds the key to helping retailers boost the fortunes of their Christmas tree shops, and we believe the slimline Nordmann fir will play an even more important role this year, so we encourage retailers to secure this popular range as soon as they can.”

Retailers placing orders now for December delivery are being urged to widen their choice of Christmas tree to help drive sales. While the Premium Nordmann Fir remains Premium Christmas Trees’ speciality, the Premium Fraser Fir with its deep-green fine needles and alluring fragrance is another top choice for space-constrained consumers who are looking for slimmer trees. The Premium Norway Spruce with its unique Christmassy fragrance retains its strong appeal withshoppers who prefer a traditional tree. With a growing number of consumers opting for Pot-Grown Christmas Trees that can be planted in gardens come the New Year, containerised Nordmann Fir and Fraser Firs appeal to a market that wants to nurture a fully rooted tree for years to come. It is recommended that buyers further widen their potential market by stocking a Korean Fir or budget trees to ensure that retail outlets cater for the complete spectrum of clientele.

Sophie adds: “To maximise the sales potential of Christmas trees it’s essential to provide a unique customer experience. We work with retailers to ensure they select the right trees for their customer base and offer a choice that looks and smells superb. Telling the story of a tree’s journey to market – from seeds being picked high up on mother trees in year one to the planting, tending and pruning that ensures a crop is at its peak of perfection for cutting in years 10 to 12 – holds the potential to further driving sales by informing consumers of the care that has been lavished in bringing the ultimate Christmas tree into their home.”

Sustainability sells, too, and an eco-friendly approach is at the heart of Premium Christmas Trees’ operation with almost all trees going direct from the field to the chosen garden centre a few miles away. The company points out that a study in North America revealed that real Christmas trees, which can be recycled after the festive season, are better for the environment. The report claimed that an artificial tree would have to be kept for about 20 years to have a lower carbon footprint than having a real tree every Christmas.

Retailers can extend their Christmas offering without having to take more stock instore through Premium Christmas Trees’ online order fulfilment system, where they can specify the dates they want a fresh delivery to store.

For more information visit www.premiumchristmastrees.com or call the company on 01257 793748 to discuss your tree requirements for Christmas 2020.

Case study

Piccadilly Garden is a charitable Day Support Service that supports Children, Young People and Adults with a range of disabilities. Operating for over 30 years, the charity is based in Lancaster.

Manager, Stephen Neaves, says: “We have been raising additional money through the sale of Christmas trees during late November and December. We have been doing this for most of the 30 years we have been in operation. Since moving to Premium Christmas Trees many years ago we have had nothing but praise from our loyal customers regarding the trees. Every person has been delighted with their choice of tree.

“Sophie from PCT has been supportive of us, especially last year when we told him of our new initiative – the Piccadilly Christmas Tree Appeal, where we donated 30 trees to mark our 30 years in operation to local families that were struggling over the Christmas period. David kindly donated Christmas tree stands for the trees and donated a few extra trees for our cause. In 2019 we have been working with another local charity to donate 15 trees to families in the Lancaster area. We are grateful to PCT for their help and friendly service and look forward to our continued relationship with them for many more years to come.”

During 2019 we've published over 2000 stories in GTN Xtra that have been read by 35,519 unique readers.  The e-mail newsletter and each issues website has been opened 532,607 times during the year and 1,061,667 pages viewed.

From all that activity here are the Top 100 Most Read Stories of the year.  The Top 5 are re-published in this year end newsletter and the rest can be accessed via the links below or by searching the GTN Xtra Archive here.

Thank you for all your reading during the year, and your news items, for which we are extremely grateful.

Happy New Year for all of the team at GTN.  May it be another prosperous year for UK garden centres!

Out of the 145 Wyevale Garden Centres put up for sale at the end of May 2018, 129 have been sold as garden centres and 16 sold for development or closed (2 of these will be run as garden centres for up to 2 years by British Garden centres before being developed.)

The trading sites were bought by 31 different businesses. British Garden Centres and Dobbies have each bought 37 centres with Blue Diamond buying 16 sites, Hilliers 5 sites and In-Excess 4 centres.

Using the "offers based on prices" listed by Christie & Co in May 2018, Dobbies spent almost £240m on 20 freehold sites and 17 leasehold garden centres. British Garden Centres purchases total up to £57.5m of which 18 are freehold and 19 leasehold. The Blue Diamond sites were valued at £50.5m and are split 5 freehold and 11 leasehold.

See the October issue of Garden Trade News for more analysis and views.

Here's GTN Xtra's A-Z list of all 145 centres and where they have ended up.

The Hillview Group have put six of their sites up for sale with a price for all six set at £12.9m

Advertised on www.adsre.co.uk as Project Pollard the six Freehold sites are:

HILLTOP GARDEN CENTRE, RAMSDEN
14.75 Acres. Freehold. OIRO £ 2,950,000.

SHIPLEY GARDEN CENTRE, SHIPLEY
2.18 Acres. Freehold. OIRO £2,950,000.

STUDLEY GARDEN CENTRE, STUDLEY
4.84 Acres. Freehold. OIRO £2,500,000.

SCOTLAND NURSERIES, MATLOCK
10.09 Acres. Freehold. OIRO £2,450,000.

CHARLECOTE GARDEN CENTRE, CHARLECOTE
1.89 Acres. Freehold. OIRO £1,500,000.

NEWTON REGIS GARDEN CENTRE, NEWTON REGIS
3.38 Acres. Freehold. OIRO £550,000.

Hillview Garden Centres CEO, Boyd Douglas-Davies told GTN Xtra; "our hope is that a new investor buys all six sites to continue the growth of the group."

"Our shareholders have decided to undertake a formal process to evaluate opportunites that have arisen and it is possible that these could lead to a strategic transaction of merging our business, selling individual sites or equally, that nothing changes and we continue to acquire new sites."

"Our suppliers understand that trading activities continue as normal, with all teams focussing on running our business successfully through the upcoming spring season and beyond."

As Boyd said in the GTN interview last month: "The Hillview Group has been a very good start up investor. They have funded us to get to this point and we are now seven and a half years old in terms of an investment fund so at some point they will probably be looking to realize some of that investment. That gives us an opportunity to bring in additional investors alongside them. We have been approached by a number of parties – strategic, financial and real estate developers – expressing interest to participate in Hillview Garden Centres, we always take those approaches seriously and fully evaluate them”

“We’ve created a great team, portfolio of well-located garden centres with massive development and growth potential and I’m looking forward to seeing us go onto the next stage and take what we've proven to work and extend across more stores. We’ve completed Phase one and now look forward to the next step. This is an exciting sector and completely differentiated from high street retail”

https://www.adsre.co.uk/disposals/project-pollard.html#top

Wyevale Garden Centres has today announced the sale of 11 garden centres in four separate transactions to British Garden Centres, The Plant Area Limited (t/a Clandon Park Garden Centre), Coolings Garden Centres and Maidenhead Aquatics.

British Garden Centres will acquire 8 centres: Albrighton, Birchencliffe, Bressingham, Gardenlands, Hemel Hempstead, Louth, Tarporley and Wolseley Bridge. This follows their earlier acquisition of six centres.

In separate transactions, The Plant Area Limited will acquire Woking garden centre, Coolings Garden Centres will acquire Wych Cross garden centre and Maidenhead Aquatics will acquire Dummer garden centre.

Anthony Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Wyevale Garden Centres, said: “The sale of a further 11 centres takes the total number sold to 101 since the sale process began. I’m delighted that these 11 centres will remain as garden centres and would like to thank all colleagues for their commitment and contribution and wish them all well for the future.”

Charles Stubbs, MD of British Garden Centres said: “We are proud to announce the purchase of these additional centres into our rapidly expanding British Garden Centres family. Phillippa, Robert and I and all the British Garden Centres teams are looking forward to supporting the new centres in the set up for the Autumn/Winter trading period. We would like to express our thanks to all involved in this complex purchase process.”

Lee Wong, MD at Clandon Park Garden Centre said: “Clandon Park has been under our independent ownership since 2003 and we are delighted to welcome all the staff at Woking Garden Centre into our company. The two centres serve different towns, but are less than 20 minutes apart and already share many customers offering significant opportunities to work and grow together.”

Paul Cooling, Chairman of the 3rd generation family business said: "The whole team at Coolings is looking forward to welcoming their new colleagues from Wych Cross. The centre and nursery has a great reputation for roses, and is a great fit for Coolings. After completion the centre will close temporarily for refurbishment and will re-open as Wych Cross Nursery on Friday 23rd August."

David Lawrence, MD of Maidenhead Aquatics said “Maidenhead Aquatics are pleased to have acquired Dummer Garden Centre. Having traded from the site for over ten years as a concession it was an opportunity to secure both the future of the site as a local traditional garden centre as well as enhancing and securing our existing specialist aquatics offering. We very much look forward to working with the existing team and further improving the centre.”

Christie & Co, the specialist business property advisor is managing the sale process on behalf of Wyevale Garden Centres. There still remains the opportunity to acquire a small group or a portfolio of well performing garden centres located in attractive locations.

Following the completion of this and other previously announced sales, Wyevale Garden Centres will trade 43 garden centres plus 4 centres trading under license. These include 42 restaurants and 154 concessions with 125 partners. These have been key to driving footfall and de-seasonalising the business, making the centres attractive all year-round destinations.

At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last month, Guy Hands told GTN Xtra that all of the remaining centres would be sold by the end of the year and at The National Plant Show there were plenty of rumours flying around about other sales and purchases that are in the pipeline.

Wyevale Garden Centres have today announced the sale of a further six centres.

A portfolio of five centres has been sold to British Garden Centres, comprising Bold Heath, Carr Gate, Leyland, Coventry and Bolton. In a separate transaction Woburn Sands has been sold to Rochmills Group. Both buyers will continue to operate all sites as Garden Centres with the sales expected to complete by the end of February.

Anthony Jones, Chief Operating Officer of WGC, said: “We are pleased to have agreed the sale of a further six centres - since the launch of the sale process in May 2018 we have sold 46 centres and have transformed our financial position. We continue to evaluate a wide range of competitive offers from group buyers, regional operators and local entrepreneurs, but we also look forward to re-focusing our efforts and trading the upcoming spring season with the vast majority of our remaining centres. We would like to thank our great colleagues at these centres, who have been central to the performance of their centres and made them so appealing to these buyers. We wish them well for the next stage of their growth and development under new ownership.”

Charles Stubbs, MD of British Garden Centres, said “We are proud to announce the purchase of these five centres into our British Garden Centres family, making our independent, family owned group now 16 centres. Myself, Robert and Phillippa and all of the team are looking forward to working with these new centres and their teams ahead of a busy spring season. We would like to express our thanks to all involved in this complex process.”

Christie & Co, the specialist business property advisor managing the sale process on behalf of WGC, has achieved considerable interest from a wide variety of buyers. The opportunity to acquire garden centres has ignited significant interest within the sector and beyond, and as part of the process Christie & Co continue to liaise with bidders.

Smart Garden Products have announced the purchase of the Briers business and assets from administrators Duff & Phelps.

"The business was short of cashflow and their directors were trying to find a buyer for some months without success, eventually placing the company in administration.  We came in at the end of this process with an acceptable offer and managed to complete very quickly, within days in fact.  It was all very quick!" said Paris Natar, Smart's Chairman.

"The timing could be better with the season upon us and Chinese New Year holiday factory closures" added MD Jonathan Stobart.

"Fortunately there is some stock that has recently arrived at UK ports and even more in transit, in addition to that already in the Briers warehouse.  So we are now bringing that in and arranging for early shipment of other goods already on order, mostly made, as soon as the factories re-open in the second half of February.  Not where we would like to be with this, but also not irrecoverable by any means."

Paris added: We are determined to restore normal and full supply of this fantastic range and brand to our retail partners as soon as practically possible, doing whatever it takes.  We will be supplying Smart Standards and Smart Service Levels.  This is a brilliant opportunity for Smart Garden Products and we intend to make the most of it."

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As from the 1^st January 2020 Sarah Willis has been promoted to General Manager of Thurrock Garden Centre. 

Sarah has made great strides in her career development. 

She started working for the garden centre nearly 12 years ago as an Assistant Cook, quickly moving onto Manager of the Garden Café. 

Sarah then successfully opened Woody’s, a 250 seater restaurant 5 years ago. 

She will be working closely with Emma Pinkerton, Managing Director. Emma said she is very excited to be working with Sarah and bringing fresh ideas and developing the Garden Centre further.

In a year that has seen Primeur’s penetration of UK garden centres increase exponentially, the company has been busy working behind the scenes to develop its instore merchandising displays for the award-winning Eco Garden range.

As the industry begins making preparations for the 2020 season, the company has confirmed that this new point of sale will be rolled out to four times more customers than in 2019 – an exciting way to start the new year.

Primeur’s Eco Garden merchandising display has been created to make it even easier for retailers to stock the popular Eco Garden range, including the recycled rubber garden borders and stepping stones – both of which have scooped awards from GIMA and Glee respectively.

With a footprint of just 0.8m2, the display unit comes fully stocked with £700 of stock dependent on the mixture of products, making this a highly cost-effective merchandising solution. What’s more the highly robust timber Primeur Eco Garden display also comes fully built, making it even easier for retailers to start selling these fast-moving ranges right away.

Complete with eye-catching display boards that offer clear and concise information that outlines the unique environmental benefits and ease of use that comes from using recycled rubber within the garden, the display unit can be positioned throughout the store to draw the customer’s eye from a distance. Whether co-locating with similar landscaping products, or alongside lawn care or outdoor planting, the versatility presented from Primeur is second to none.

Jenny Douthwaite, Sales Director at Primeur said: “Traditionally, displaying products such as garden borders or stepping stones has been notoriously difficult and in most cases, uninspiring. By their very nature, garden borders and stepping stones have been heavy and therefore subject to breakages, whilst an in-store position has not been afforded to a product of this type.

"However, our virtually unbreakable Eco Garden range – made from recycled rubber; rubber that would have been heading for landfill where it would take upwards of 80 years to fully decompose – can withstand the manhandling of customers.

"In fact, we actively encourage retailers to position these products in a place where footfall is high, particularly co-located alongside complimentary products to drive add-on sales.

"Consumers love the tactile nature of the product, and a more central location is proven to capture both impulse and pre-planned purchases year-round.

“We’re excited to see our merchandising solutions roll out across garden retailers in early 2020 and are confident they’ll deliver prominent sales.”

To find more about Primeur’s new Eco Garden merchandising stands please contact the team on 01274 518800 or email sales@primeur.ltd.uk

GIMA’s Knowledge Exchange programme will kickstart 2020 with the return of the popular ‘Developing Selling Skills’ session on 25th February at Horticulture House, Didcot.

Perfect for the entire sales team, this workshop will include fun, interactive content that will arm delegates with everything they need to carve out a successful future within sales.

Led by corporate training specialists, Cedar Associates, ‘Developing Selling Skills’ will focus on core sales tools suitable for both established sales personnel looking for a refresher, or for those new into the world of sales.

Topics up for discussion during the all-day workshop will include time management, communication strategies to encourage more positive negotiations, latest sales trends, persuading by selling the benefits, dealing with objections positively, and will also put into focus how to match the customer’s needs with the right product or service.  Closing the sale, link and up-selling, and creating an action plan will complete the agenda.

This will not be the first time that GIMA has run this popular workshop, with previous delegates praising the session with comments such as “great to get stuck in as a team”, “would recommend to the entire workforce”, and “really engaging, thoroughly enjoyed it. I will be taking a lot back with me”.

All GIMA Knowledge Exchange Workshops will take place at Horticulture House, Didcot, OX11 0RN.

Further information about Knowledge Exchange workshops can be found at www.gima.org.uk. Open to both members and non-members, GIMA is urging interested parties to secure their places now as space is limited. Bookings can be made for individual workshops (GIMA Members: £195 + VAT / Non-members: £230 + VAT) or as a suite of two or more places (GIMA Members: £175 + VAT / Non-members: £210 + VAT).

Now more than ever, we need to be at the top of our game for: Plant health and biosecurity, sustainability, quality standards, maximising the grower/retailer relationship, trends, best practice and technology. 

The Horticultural Trades Association’s Contact Conference invites those working across the nursery sector to sit up, take notice and act. The spotlight is about to shine on the state of the horticultural nation.  

Sponsored by ICL, the HTA Contact Conference will kick start the year with a horticultural bang on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 January 2020 at Horticulture House, Chilton.   

Latest programme updates include: 

A DEFRA representative will expand on how having a strong and vibrant horticultural industry is essential to underwriting the Government’s 25-year Environment Plan, its biosecurity ambitions, and to help mitigate the fundamental concerns of climate change.  

Harper Adams University is working to improve vine weevil control in Hardy Nursery Stock through the AHDB Horticulture project HNS 195.  A representative will talk about the work which has focused on methods to reliably monitor for the presence of this pest within crops. This includes comparisons of a range of monitoring tools and the potential to use a lure.  

HTA Contact Conference combines a day and a half conference programme with a networking dinner and overnight stay at Milton Hill Hotel near Horticulture House.   

Programme summary: 

State of the Horticultural Nation  

·                The big picture – 25-year Environment Plan 

·                Brexit and its impact on Horticulture  

Plant Health and Biosecurity  

·                Plant health update - Professor Nicola Spence, UK Chief Plant Health Officer  

·                International Year of Plant Health activities - Lucy Carson-Taylor, DEFRA 

·                The BRIGIT Project - Reducing the chance of Xylella being introduced and becoming established in the UK - Dr Gerard Clover  

Sustainability  

·                Sustainability in Horticulture - Sally Cullimore, HTA Policy Manager  

·                Best practice from within the Nursery Working Group - Bransford Webbs, Porters Fuchsias and Modiform  

Horticultural Quality Standards 

·                BOPP session - the ultimate tool for managing your nursery – Hills Plants/Hill Brothers and Walberton Nursery  

·                Pesticides update – Crop Protection Association with information sourced from industry 

Adding value to the grower/retailer relationship  

·                Trends/consumer behaviour/growing plants that people want - David Denny, HTA Sustainability and Insights Manager 

·                FERA – Glyn Jones 

Technology - Best Practice & Technology in Horticulture 

·                Improving vine weevil control in Hardy Nursery Stock - Harper Adams University  

·                Integrated Pest Management - Koppert Biological 

·                Engaging the younger generation - Martin Emmett, Chair of the HTA Ornamentals Committee and member of the Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable  

After-dinner talk - Pippa Greenwood, HTA Horticulture Manager, takes a light-hearted look at her garden media career. 

HTA Contact Conference is open to all businesses and costs £299 for HTA members to attend (£499 for non-members). To book or find out more visit www.hta.org.uk/contactconference  

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 newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2017 as well as 2018 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 up-to-date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.

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

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

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

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

Highlights of the GTN Wild Bird Care Products 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.

Get the GTN Bestsellers charts in full every week in the GTN Bestsellers newsletters for only £145.00.

GTN Bestsellers is the only industry source of weekly garden centre sales information, collating Epos data from centres with an aggregate turnover in excess of £120m.

Use the weekly Garden Products and Growing Media Top 50 sales volumes charts to plan your hotspot and other promotions and ensure you have the right products in stock to satisfy the needs of your customers.

For further information contact karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call 01733 775700.

Buy your subscription today and start receiving the GTN Bestsellers charts this week.

Following many conversations with garden centres while out and about post Glee and at the Cultivating Retail conference, the GTN team have realised there is a real need for more information about sustainability initiatives from existing suppliers and ideas that could lead to products from new suppliers to be stocked.

In answer to this, GTN is compiling a Sustainability Directory to be published in January 2020 that will provide a guide for garden centre buyers and staff to the sustainability initiatives of garden centre suppliers and their products.

Suppliers to garden centres will be able to take a FREE Sustainability Listing in the directory and there will also be opportunities for advertising and advertorial content to emphasise your sustainability activities.

To take advantage of this FREE Sustainability Listing companies should use this link or send an e-mail to alan.burdon@tgcmc.co.uk by 5:00pm on Wednesday 8th January 2020.

For information about advertising and advertorial opportunities please call Alan Burdon or Ben Greenwood on 01733 775700.