view from the shop floor
David Little has been the manag-
ing director of Poplars Garden
Centre in Toddington, Focus on the
Bedfordshire since 1999 and is the
fourth generation of the Little
family to control the company,
whose horticultural roots go back
to the 1890s. Poplars receives visits
Plant Area!
from around a quarter of a million
customers a year and turnover is in View from the shop floor: how to improve your plant
excess of £4 million. It is also a
departmen and reap the rewards. By David Little
proud member of the both the
HTA and GCA, of which David is an
executive committee member and
L
The outdoor plant area has “Break down ness and we fail to develop a
always been the core of our consistency across all depart-
area chairman of the North
those depart-
business; it is run by passion- ments. One of the common ways
Thames branch. Here David contin- ate plant enthusiasts who com-
mental bound-
to develop consistency is to
ues his contribution to our ‘view
bine their love of plants with an aries and break down department bound-
ability to pass on their passion to aries. This usually means that the
from the shop floor’ series.
improve consis-
our customers. Its true to say plant manager has to give up
that the plant area hasn’t seen
tency. On a
some of their valuable covered
the type of growth other depart- sunny spring selling space to accommodate
ments have enjoyed in recent
day there is no
pallets of compost, weatherproof
years. More worryingly the con- packs of soluble fertilizer and
tribution plant sales make to the
better place to
display stands of pots, baskets
overall business has steadily be than a busy and containers. However this is a
dropped for the last twenty or so
vibrant outdoor
bit of a one-way process. Is the
years. When I first came in to the plant manager then offered dis-
industry plant sales accounted
plant depart-
play space at the entrance and in
for around 45 per cent of total ment. ” front of the tills to display their
turnover. In 2009 that percent- plant of the week all dripping
age dropped below 20 per cent with flowers and irresistible to
for the first time. As the business the customer? These displays will
has diversified into new product need to be changed daily and
areas it was inevitable that the kept fresh, but the plant team
overall percentage contribution can manage that; it is after all
from plants would drop. The what they do best. Rather than
good news is that values have taking the Gro-Bags and
gone up but I do wonder Tomorite to the tomato plants –
whether we need to refocus on do you allow some tomato
the outdoor plant department. plants to be displayed alongside
It’s very easy to let the Plant the tomato food?
sales team get on with their job. There are other ways to break
The danger is that they work in down those departmental bound-
isolation to the rest of the busi- aries and improve consistency. On
14 Garden & Hardware News
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