Industry News


Bradford garden centre is first retail outlet for handcrafted Yorkshire furniture


A former PE teacher's business has created handcrafted wooden products exclusively for a Bradford Garden Centre. Halifax business, Off the Grain has made bespoke solid wood planters and a companion bench exclusively for Tong Garden Centre. Off the Grain's founder, Dom Walsh is excited


about his company's first retail listing: "In November 2018, I left behind my full-time teaching career to turn my passion into a full- time business with a purpose. Off the Grain was born out of a desire to create beautiful, handcrafted furniture that is unique, full of character, made to order and built to last.


"The business has grown organically based


on web based sales and word of mouth, but we're excited to take Off the Grain to the next level with space in Tong, our first retail outlet, so that people can see the quality of our work first hand." Tong's Sundries Buyer, Phil Hemmings is


pleased to welcome the new supplier to Tong: "We love to showcase great local producers and Off the Grain caught our eye after a visit to their workshop where we were impressed by the team's care and attention to their craft and ethical approach to product sourcing and sustainability.


"It's good to be able to offer our customers


something hand crafted, unique and custom made in Yorkshire."


Cobra gives back to community by donating lawncare to local charity


Garden machinery specialist, Cobra, has donated a range of lawncare equipment to East Midlands based charity, Rainbows, to help with the maintenance of its grounds and outdoor spaces. Rainbows is the only hospice in the East


Midlands providing care and support for children, young people and families impacted by life- limiting conditions. Opening in 1994, the charity provides end of life care, symptom management,


short breaks and respite care bringing support and happiness to their lives. It also provides bereavement support for parents and siblings. The hospice has faced difficulty maintaining


its outdoor spaces over the past year with Covid-19 restrictions prohibiting any volunteers from entering the site, and maintenance staff being limited to just one. Cobra Managing Director, Peter Chaloner,


Garden care categories boom with Evergreen Garden Care


leading the charge With lockdown providing ample opportunity for us to spend time in our gardens, it’s no surprise that 2.7m new households entered the garden care category last year, resulting in a growth of 76.9% YOY (According to GfK data, YTD to April 2021). For Evergreen Garden Care, the growth was above and beyond this at 84.1% YOY. According to GfK data, between January and April 2021 the


company grew ahead of the market and competitors, delivering +84% of value growth, most notably adding over £1m incremental to the plant food category and over £2m incremental to the growing media category. We know this has been a particularly unusual season due to how fast sales began this year, but this doesn’t underestimate the growth we have seen across the gardening category. House plant care is one of the fastest growing categories at +78%


YTD – the category is becoming increasingly important with more consumers joining the houseplant trend, and the ability to grow and enjoy gardening in any space. Evergreen doubled its market share in this category. This has been driven predominantly by the Miracle-Gro Pump & Feed, which delivered incremental growth into the category since launch and has grown rate of sale by 93%YTD. A trend to watch is natural alternatives which are leading the


growth in their respective markets, with natural lawncare seeing +82% YTD growth and natural plant food growing at 193% YTD. Moreover, Evergreen Garden Care is backing the demand for peat- free; £1 in every £8 is now spent on peat-free growing media and to meet this interest, Evergreen Garden Care launched the biggest range of peat-free products in Europe and will continue to expand in the natural, organic and peat-free product categories.


6 | www.gardencentreupdate.com


said: “We’re delighted to be donating a range of our lawncare tools to Rainbows. Its work provides vital support to those suffering with life limiting illnesses and their families, so we wanted to help them maintain their outdoor spaces, as we know how a well-kept garden can offer a host of benefits. We are honoured to be a part of making a great space for the staff and families at Rainbows.”


Garden Connect resumes


successful Meetup programme For the first time since Covid-19 broke out, Garden Connect has managed to resume its successful Meetup program. The Garden Connect Meetup program was introduced in 2019 and the goal is to help garden centres understand how to get more out of their websites and webshops.


“We’re glad we were able to resume our Meetup program since a lot


happened in the last 18 months. Being together to share ideas is very beneficial and helps to find solutions,” explained Edwin Meijer of Garden Connect. The Meetups were hosted in Eindhoven, Utrecht (the Netherlands)


and Athlone (Ireland). “It was challenging to make this happen and to comply with the local Covid-19 restrictions, but we’re glad we pushed it forward,” Meijer added. One of the trends discussed was about online plant sales as Meijer


explained: “Consumers all over the world discovered the ease of buying plants online. Research showed that 43% of them will keep buying plants online post-Covid-19. But how can you benefit from this change in shopping behaviour? An important topic to consider for every garden centre, small or large.” “Our Meetups are open to everyone. Our goal is to share knowledge


and to help independent garden centres to understand what’s happening online and how to benefit from it. If the garden industry is thriving, we will thrive as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re using our platform or not,” explained Meijer. The Meetups are free to attend, and lunch is provided by Garden


Connect. Due to the exclusivity of the data shared, it’s only accessible for independent garden centres with a limit of 15 attendees per Meetup. If you’re interested in attending the Garden Connect Meetups, just go to www.gardenconnect.com/meetups for more info.


GCU August 2021


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