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…
Our August Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures have revealed an ‘excellent month’ with members seeing an uplift in 11 of the 13 categories recorded (2023). Out this week, our BoT also highlighted a positive year-to-date variance of +1.13% for member garden centres. Encouraging result Peter Burks, our Chief Executive, explains: “August was an excellent month…
Sarah Raven’s pathway to sustainability and abundance this National Organic Month Gardening expert and author, Sarah Raven, is encouraging gardeners to use National Organic Month (September) as a time to reflect on our gardening practices and consider the profound impact they have on both our environment and our own wellbeing. Sarah explains, “Organic gardening offers…
We’ve just released July’s Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures and they show our members continued to perform well – despite the weather being against them (2023). We also recorded a positive year-to-date variance of +1.03% and member garden centres saw an uplift in nine of the 13 BoT categories. Remarkably well Our Chief Executive, Peter…
We’ve just introduced another new module to our Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) e-Learning platform – this time on Sustainable Disease Control. With growing public environmental awareness, it’s designed to provide garden centre staff with the knowledge they need to help customers prevent and treat plant diseases in a more sustainable way. More natural approach…
Having some outdoor space – whether that’s a courtyard, garden or balcony – is a fantastic opportunity. Growing our own vegetables or plants, watching them thrive or simply enjoying the sights and smells of nature – all of the activities associated with gardening – can really boost our mood. Spending time outdoors is great for…
We’ve introduced five new compliance-based e-Learning courses covering food safety and health & safety on our GROW e-Learning platform (July 2023). This launch is the first of three planned releases throughout 2023, which will see a total of sixteen e-Learning courses covering various food safety and health and safety topics added to GROW. Leading providers…
We recently (Thursday, July 13) unveiled the winners for our North Thames region during a presentation at Poplars Garden Centre in Bedfordshire. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree won Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category while Perrywood, Sudbury picked up the accolade in the Garden Centre (GC) category. Crucial feedback Peter…