Bonnetts Garden Village opens its main store this weekend
Bonnetts Garden Village, the first garden centre for Chris Bonnett the owner of online retailer Gardening Express, is to open its main store on Saturday 11th November, having traded since late May in plants. Read more
Downtown submits plans for £125m designer village
Downtown Garden Centre near Grantham, part of the Oldrid Group, has submitted plans for an outlet village with 107 retail outlets and a new garden centre. Read more
Performance of Homebase is disappointing says Wesfarmers as sales fall
Bunnings has reported a 14% drop in sales for Homebase over the last quarter. But they remain encouraged by the performance of the Bunnings pilots. Read more
Gardman says it is making good progress despite losses
Gardman reduces losses in its first full year following the buyout in June 2015 by Rutland Partners LLP and says it has significant finance to invest in new categories. Read more
Carol Paris becomes a non-exec director at Briers
Carol Paris has joined Jackie Eades on the board of Briers, the UK’s leading garden glove and boot supplier, to guide it through its next phase of growth. Read more
Coolings is buying a third garden centre
Coolings Nurseries says it has agreed to buy The Potted Garden Nursery, which is located very close to Leeds Castle in Kent. They take over on Nov 1st. Read more
Deco-Pak takes a strategic decision to focus on garden centres
Deco-Pak is to sever links with a discount retailer so that it can develop a more creative offer for specialist garden centres. Read more
As Wyevale refinances after massive losses, has it turned the corner?
As Wyevale refinances, Roger Mclaughlan has spoken for the first time since becoming CEO about how he and his new management team are working to get the core business right. Further acquisitions are firmly on the back burner. Read more
WGC trading profit hit by switch to central distribution
Terra Firma says switch to central distribution was too much for Wyevale Garden Centres, hitting stock availability and sales in 2016. Trading profit fell 31%. Read more
Wyevale expects to sell 2000 bulb packs an hour this weekend
Wyevale Garden Centres is predicting that this weekend will be the most popular for the sale of bulbs, when it expects to sell around 2,000 packets of bulbs an hour. Read more
Westland refreshes logo and aims for higher brand profile
Westland looks to raise its brand profile as the gardener’s champion after research shows there’s an opportunity to build consumer recognition. Read more
Stihl’s pilot with Dobbies marks a major advance for cordless battery tools
The Stihl Group expects demand for Lithium-Ion products to grow exponentially and is to test the selling of cordless products through garden centres. The first pilot is with Dobbies. Read more
Gardman’s field sales team visits its new National Distribution Centre
The Gardman sales team visited the almost completed 415,000 sq ft. National Distribution Centre last week to be briefed on Glee and the 2018 growth plans. Read more
Another respectable year for The Barton Grange group
Garden centre sales in 2016 were level, with profit increasing slightly at the Barton Grange Group as construction of the Flower Bowl has started for opening in 2018. Read more
Plans for new Honiton GC look set for approval
Planning officials have recommended that plans for a new garden centre on the outskirts of Honiton are approved. Which means it could be trading by next spring. Read more
Stewarts apologises as demand for Santa swamps its website and phones
Demand for Christmas at garden centres seems higher than ever on the South coast. Haskins are expecting over 1m visitors, while Stewarts Garden Centres payment gateway and phones became swamped as 10,000 tried to book their visit to Santa. Read more
LBS Horticulture in administration
It has been confirmed that LBS Worldwide Ltd is in administration. It is continuing to trade, managed by the administrators. Read more
Stax secures its supply chain with acquisition
Stax is to offer distribution to manufacturers following the acquisition of PDS Logistics last week. The deal will increase flexibility and improve availability as Stax takes control of its supply chain. Read more
DaVinci Garden Ornaments has been rebranded
Melmar Stone has announced that it has taken on the range of hand cast resin statues that used to be sold by DaVinci Home and Garden Products. Read more
Brexit leads Allensmore to extend perennial production
Brexit fears have increased demand for UK grown plants leading Allensmore to add a further 9 acres of outdoor production. Read more
Scotts challenges Westland’s SafeLawn adverts and loses
Scotts Miracle-Gro called on the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) to find that two adverts for Safelawn by Westland were misleading. Their complaint was not upheld. Read more
Irish grower to expand into the UK
One of Ireland’s foremost growers of nursery stock, Flannery’s Nurseries, is looking to develop its market by expanding into the UK with Bob Haward as their agent. Read more
Westland calls on the industry to avoid short cuts when there is a shortage of peat
Following a reduced peat harvest, which Westland admits will have a cost impact, the company calls on the growing media industry not to take short cuts by using materials like green waste. Read more
Terra Firma confirms the re-financing of WGC after massive losses in 2016
Wyevale accounts for 2016 show a net loss of £122m after a one-off charge for non-recurring items of £73.6m. This gives a new starting position for Wyevale, which has raised £216.5m in new finance to replace exisiting facilities that would have expired in 2018. Read more
Phase 1 extension of Northern Ireland garden centre to open
Colemans Garden Centre in Templepatrick, N. Ireland is nearing the completion of phase 1 of a £5m redevelopment and expansion. Read more
Wyevale refinancing has been agreed according to reports
Press reports suggest Terra Firma is about to announce new long-term refinancing for Wyevale Garden Centres. Read more
Scotts UK has a perpetual license to sell Miracle-Gro
The Scotts Company (UK) reveals more about the buy-out from the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Investment in innovation backed by TV advertising is the way forward. Read more
Notcutts reports a 58% jump in operating profit
Notcutts lifts sales and profit after 5 garden centres are modernised as part of their 5-year plan. A new leadership team has been recruited. Read more
Wholesalers go hand in hand with competing glove brands
National wholesaler, Decco, has signed an exclusive partnership with Briers, while Stax has secured a deal with E. P. Barrus to distribute their brands including the newly acquired Town & Country. Read more
Smart Garden celebrates a massive new logistics centre
The Mayor of Peterborough joined Paris Natar and the Smart Garden team to celebrate the opening of a massive new distribution hub that should see turnover grow to £100m. Read more
