Garden centre teams from across the country are celebrating after receiving awards at our annual conference in the Cotswolds (Monday, January 29, 2024). The awards were presented to our member garden centres during a ceremony at the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Our Chief Executive, Peter Burks said: “The commitment and…
Garden centre members can now nominate staff for our 2024 Rising Stars programme sponsored by Westland Horticulture. We’re requesting nominations by March 1, 2024. The candidate should: In your opinion be a rising star or have the potential to be a rising star in your business Have a passion or desire to contribute to this…
We’ve voted at our AGM today to add a third tier garden centre category for members and to reduce our regions to four (January 29, 2024). The vote took place at our annual conference in the Cotswolds this morning. Our CEO Peter Burks explains: “We have spent a lot of time responding to members comments…
We’ve secured a plethora of sponsors for our 55th annual conference taking place next week (January 28-31, 2024) including joint headline sponsorship from Evergreen Garden Care and Westland Horticulture. A further 21 companies have also sponsored awards, days, speakers and various other aspects of the event this year including Smart Garden Products as a secondary…
Our members have chosen to support three charities at our annual conference this year (2024). Delegates attending the event in the Cotswolds will be able to take part in a GCA Charity Day this Sunday (January 28) as well as participate in a fundraising raffle during the week. GCA Charity Day Our CEO Peter Burks…
Attendees at our conference in the Cotswolds next week will see two new awards added to the roster this year (2024). The Ian Boardman Indoor Plant Award and the Food Hall/Farm Shop Award will be presented to the best Destination Garden Centre (DGC) and Garden Centre (GC) in both categories. Greater recognition Our CEO Peter…
The UK’s specialist retailers are preparing to come together again this April as Farm Shop & Deli Show returns to the NEC as part of the 2024 UK Food & Drink Shows (29th April – 1st May). Farm Shop & Deli Show joins Food & Drink Expo, The Restaurant Show, National Convenience Show and The…
Catering once again dished up the best figures in our December 2023 Barometer of Trade (BoT) report with outdoor plants and houseplants also doing well (January 2024). Up 18.18%, it was the top performing category recorded by our member garden centres last month, excluding the miscellaneous section. It was closely followed by outdoor plants at…
Garden centre members have revealed their trading results for November in the organisation’s latest Barometer of Trade (BoT) report – with catering in poll position (2023). The figures show a year-to-date variance of 2.38% and that 11 of the 13 categories, recorded by member garden centres, saw an uplift during the month. Very encouraging Our…
We’ve had several new members join us in 2023 – with nine garden centres and 22 associates signing up and approved so far this year. These garden centres include Hillmount Garden Centre, Belfast, The Hertfordshire Garden Centre, Yarnton Home & Garden, Oxfordshire, Rutland Nursery and five Hilliers – Newbury, Three-Legged Cross, Weyhill, Aldermaston and Lechlade. Peter Burks,…