April ‘resounding success’ for members with seeds & bulbs leading growth
Our Barometer of Trade (BoT) out today shows April was a ‘resounding success’ for garden centre members – despite a slight year-on-year dip in sales (May 15, 2026).
Standout performer
The standout performer for the month was seeds & bulbs, which topped the category chart with an increase of +6.11%, closely followed by clothing (+5.92%) and catering (+4.55%).
Peter Burks, our CEO, says: “Despite the fall of almost 2% in overall sales this April, compared to April 2025, this is actually a resounding success when you acknowledge that last April was 26.65% up against April 2024.
Variable weather
“The weather has continued to be very variable and our garden centre members’ trading patterns have reflected that, with some very strong days, but also some poor ones. As expected, it is the gardening side that is seeing the most significant shortfalls, but it’s great to see that catering operations are still attracting customers in and growing their category. It’s also good to hear May started well and we’ve the promise of warm weather on its way too.”
Other categories
The fourth category measured by our BoT that recorded positively was food hall/farm shop. It continued its steady performance showing a small uplift (+0.20%).
Those categories that were down in April 2026 when compared to 2025 include pets & aquatics (-0.60%), gifts (-1.60%), furniture & BBQ (-1.73%), garden sundries (-3.38%), houseplants (-3.52%), outdoor plants (-4.73%) and hard landscaping (-7.50%).