Our members will hear from Human Resources (HR) professionals as well as peers on the topic of recruitment and retention during a free webinar next month (December 2023). We’re hosting the event, chaired by our Chairman Tammy Woodhouse, on Thursday, December 7 from 9.30am and it’s aimed at members’ HR departments and retail departmental managers.…
Five individuals from our member garden centres have reached the finals of our Rising Stars programme sponsored by Westland Horticulture. The staff were put forward by their centres and took part in a series of workshops this year. Our inspector, Gordon Emslie, who mentored the workshops, said: “I’d like to say a huge ‘congratulations’ to our finalists:…
Garden centre staff can now gain knowledge to help customers to deter and combat pests in a more natural, sustainable way via our GROW (Garden Retail Online Workshops) e-Learning platform. We’ve launched our new Sustainable Pest Control course because many gardeners, conscious of their impact on the environment, are choosing more environmentally friendly methods of…
Global Consultancy Director Josh McBain will be offering our members an insight into ‘The Future of Garden Retailing’ at our 2024 Conference in January (January 28 until 31, 2024). Josh is our first speaker to take to the podium on Monday, January 29 and will illuminate attendees with his predictions for garden centres – the…
Our GROW (Garden Retail Online Workshops) e-Learning platform In-Store Security course has been launched just in time for the busy Christmas sales period (November 2023). With most retailers seeing an increase in thefts, resulting in significant money being lost each year, this course has been written to help prevent those losses. Rise in retail crime…
Those who book before November 30 for the event, which takes place at the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, will benefit from a 10% discount. Booking now open Our CEO, Peter Burks, says: “We wanted to let everyone know that booking is now open, earlier than normal, via our members’ section…
Our members will hear from an adventurer, serial entrepreneur and former Chief Finance Officer on how to ‘Be More Human’ at our 2024 annual conference in the Cotswolds (Sunday, January 28 until Wednesday, January 31, 2024). Caspar Craven, who has sailed around the world twice and is a prominent expert on leadership and the role…
Our September Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures have just been released and they show it was a ‘good month’ for our members with an already ‘strong’ start to Christmas sales (2023). Our BoT saw an uplift in nearly all the 13 categories recorded at member garden centres and also revealed a positive year-to-date variance of…
Booking is now open for our annual conference next January (2024) and we’re revealing our 21st century themes and top-quality speaker line-up too. Our conference, which takes place at De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel near Cirencester from Sunday, 28th until Wednesday, 31st January, has ‘The Future of Garden Retailing’ as its main theme. Informative,…
The British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) is calling on the public to help fight a major threat to honey bees and other pollinators – Asian hornets. Numbers of the destructive insect are rising rapidly this summer and more have been detected in the UK this year than in the previous six years combined. BBKA Chair, Diane…