industry news
Wyevale sells Bournville Garden Centre to BGC
Wyevale Garden Centres has announced the sale of Bournville Garden Centre, which will be sold to British Garden Centres. This is the fourth transaction with British Garden Centres following the sale of one centre in December 2018, six centres in February and eight centres in June 2019.
Bournville will continue to be run as a garden centre and the sale is expected to complete mid-August.
Anthony Jones, COO of Wyevale Garden Centres, said: “I am pleased that Bournville will continue as a garden centre, run by an operator that we now know well thanks to having sold centres to British Garden Centre’s over the last year. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our colleagues at Bournville for their hard work and passion, and wish them all the best for the future under new ownership.” Charles Stubbs, MD of British Garden Centres said: “We are proud to announce the purchase of Bournville Garden Centre into our rapidly expanding British Garden Centres family. Phillippa, Robert and I and all the British Garden Centres teams are looking forward to supporting Bournville in the set up for the autumn/winter trading period.” Wyevale Garden Centres also announce that Swindon Hay Lane Garden Centre’s landlord, Studley Grange Limited, will continue to operate the site as a garden centre. It will be operated alongside the existing Butterfly World and Craft Village, which are also situated on site. The site will continue operating as a Wyevale Garden Centre until the end of September.
Mr Jones commented: "We strive for a positive outcome with all our centres and I am delighted that Swindon Hay Lane will continue to be run as a garden centre, with all employees to transfer over to new ownership. I would like to wish them all the very best for the future.” Tony Miller M.D of Studley Grange Ltd said: “I am over the moon to bring the garden centre back in house, allowing us to fully integrate the garden centre with the Craft Village, Butterfly World, Farm Park and Zoo, on the 25 acre site. We have recently obtained planning approval for a building linking the Garden Centre and Craft Village together, with more favourable conditions on use. Our existing management and staff are excited and looking forward to working with their new colleagues at the garden centre.”
Garden centres see growth
in plant sales in July The strong year for garden centre sales across the country continued in July, with year to date comparisons up on last year for all of the product categories reported in the HTA market update. Despite the more unsettled weather this July, garden centre sales continued to experience significant growth and are up by 17% on 2018 for July, and up by 11% on the calendar year from January to July comparisons. HTA director of Membership Martin Simmons commented: “Both indoor and outdoor plants lead healthy July garden centre performance and a continued strong year for garden centre sales in 2019. Houseplant sales have seen exceptional growth – up by 45% compared to July 2018, Hardy plants sales were up by 25%. Non- garden categories like gifting and pets, also performed well in July.” Weather reports show that July 2019 was considerably wetter and not as sunny as July of last year across most of the UK, despite being the eighth warmest July on record. Rainfall was extremely variable across the country with below-average rainfall over most of Wales and the south-west, but more than twice the normal amount in the North and Midlands.
The overall consumer confidence index score increased two points to -11 in July, one point lower than July of last year. Concerns over the UK’s economic situation remain; but as the country’s political future remains in limbo, ratings of personal financial situation and making major purchases are showing signs of improving.
Tong opens new £2m play area at the centre
The new indoor play area at Tong Garden Centre has created 39 new jobs for local people.
Grass Hoppers indoor play has recruited 26 permanent and 13 seasonal team members to work in the state of the art 15,000 square feet indoor play area and the new 200 seater Woody's Kitchen.
The indoor play roles include receptionists, queue management assistants, party assistants, a party supervisor and a play supervisor. 15 of the 39 have been recruited to work in Woody's Kitchen that serves a selection of freshly made pizzas, paninis, barista made coffee and 40 flavours of ice cream. Of the appointments, Tong's newly appointed head of people and culture, Neil Barwise said:
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"We are thrilled that our latest investment in making Tong one of the north's leading garden centres has created 39 new jobs for local people and we're delighted with the calibre of people that we have attracted. We wish them all a long, happy and fulfilling career at Tong." Tong's owners have invested more than £2 million to create the new indoor play area that includes a large pre-school soft play area, a role play zone, new party rooms, a play frame and a sports court. The new indoor play adjoins the outdoor Grass Hoppers adventure playground that has been visited by over a quarter of a million children since it opened in 2016. Grass Hoppers is a 60,000 square feet indoor and outdoor play area at Tong Garden Centre's Tong Lane site.
GCU August/September 2019
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