NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF


n Staff at Blackbrooks Garden Centre rounded off the year with a celebration party held at Leeford Place Hotel, Battle on December 13 in recognition of the business’ outstanding achievements in 2016. In welcoming everyone to the evening, managing director Mark Winchester acknowledged the contribution of every member of staff in achieving significant growth in all departments. The team were in high spirits because of the excellent response from their customers to the garden centre’s Christmas marketing activity. n Homebase recently announced that, as of December 31, customers will no longer be able to redeem Nectar points with the retailer. The retailer said the decision had “not been taken lightly,” but explained on its website that, “it is a necessary step as we focus all our time, energy and resources on delivering you always low prices, all year round. Something we believe will be of much greater value to you our customers in the long- term.” n A member of staff at Wyevale Nurseries, Hereford, has recently just got back from a plant hunting trip to Colombia. Product development coordinator Ben Gregory visited three nurseries in the country searching for unusual plants while on holiday in December. He explained: “Darwin Colombia in Bogota is an indirect supplier of ours. I wanted to experience the production style, techniques and quality of the nursery.” n The biennial HTA Contact Conference took place recently, aimed at all those working across the nursery stock sector. With the theme of ‘Surviving and Thriving,’ guest speakers included Jan de Vries from Anthos and Amy Gray from NFU. Talks incorporated the subject of Brexit and how it will affect European trade, as well as labour and the living wage. The programme also tackled issues such as plant health, innovation, production and biosecurity, recruiting and retaining labour as well as water and chemical regulations post-Brexit.


6 DIY WEEK 20 JANUARY 2017


New Year sales fail to perform on high st


Footfall over the New Year weekend fell by 16% on the UK high street, and by 50% in shopping centres according to retail benchmark analyst Springboard. The drop was due to poor


weather as well as an early December rush as well as bank holiday trading hours deterring shoppers. Overall


retail fell by 23.8%. New Year’s Eve was the shopping


better


footfall falling 2.4% on last year compared with a 5.1% decline on December 31, 2015. New Year’s Day proved disastrous for


retailers, footfall for day, with


decline compared with a 9.8% increase reported for the same day last year.


Shopper numbers at retail parks fell by 19%, with high streets seeing a 12.7% drop in footfall on New Year’s Day. Online sales, however, climbed 6.8% year-on-year across the weekend. Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said, “The ease and comfort of online shopping proved too enticing for shoppers keen to


snap however, with shopping malls seeing a 49.5% up further


discounts in the sales rather than bracing the cold outdoors. “Retailers traditionally see the


first trading weekend of the New Year as a sign of things to come,


Garden industry gears up for GCA conference


Booking is open for the Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) annual conference from January 22 – 25 at St Andrews, Scotland. GCA chief executive Iain Wylie said: “With a great venue, a great line-up of speakers and plenty of opportunities to catch up with friends from the industry, our 51st annual conference looks set to be a fantastic event. “To book, please visit the members’ section of our website via www.gca.org.uk. Sponsorship slots have filled up well too but there are still one or two left so if any companies are interested in this, please give me a call.” The conference kicks off on


Sunday, January 22 with an afternoon of fundraising activities for the charity Greenfingers. Two teams will go head-to-head to battle it out for the Greenfingers


Challenge Cup. Exciting speakers include


Tim Harford, a world-renowned behavioural economist, award- winning Financial Times columnist and BBC broadcaster who be offering delegates an insight into the economics of daily life. Mr Harford is billed to “bring storytelling, humour and intelligence to the oft- maligned discipline of economics” when he appears before delegates at the event.


Gareth


Also speaking will be Professor Jones,


an expert in


business culture and creativity, who will be presenting on January 24. Prof. Jones began his career as a university academic in economic and social studies at the University of East Anglia before moving to the


London Business School,


where he joined the Organisational Behaviour Group.


Next Christmas sales fail to live up to expectations


Sales over the festive period at Next were down -0.4% on last year, a result which bosses admitted fell short of expectations.


Although the sales for November and December were up on Next’s third quarter, the retailer had been hoping for a significant improvement on last year’s “comparatively poor” numbers rather than further decline. Total sales for the year-to- date were up 0.4% on last year, with full price sales down -1.1%.


While stock was “well controlled” and down -3% on last year, sales in the end-of-season sale were down -7%, with the cost of lower clearance rates in the order of £3m.


Looking ahead, the group has warned of “another challenging year,” saying that the declining sales in quarter four means “we expect the cyclical slow-down in spending on clothing and footwear to continue into next year.”


Troubling times may lie ahead for Next The retailer has also


warned of the likelihood of price increases due to the devaluation of the pound, with like-for-like garments expected to rise by maximum 5%. This is expected to decrease sales revenue by around 0.5%.


Tim Harford promises to bring an aspect of storytelling and humour to the 51st annual GCA conference


our


Mr Wylie continued: “We pick conference


speakers with


a view to giving our delegates some thought provoking ideas to go away with. The business climate can be challenging and it’s important that we provide inspiring and stimulating speakers that help our members reach their business goals, and sometimes this is all about going for the unexpected.”


Poor weather was partly to blame for the early slump and if


this A recent still rings true the


industry is set for a rocky 2017.” It’s not all bad news, however. poll


on DIYWeek.


net asked readers what they thought of the January sales


so far, with 98% reporting that sales had been good, with plenty of shoppers out looking for a bargain. The remaining 2% reported sales were either fair or had failed to meet expectations.


Fire breaks out at Screwfix Sittingbourne


Screwfix in Sittingbourne was closed over a recent weekend following reports of a fire at the store on Friday, January 6. Firefighters were called to the DIY store on Trinity Trading Estate at around 9.30pm. They found thick smoke billowing from the roof. Four fire engine crews were able to tackle the blaze and leave shortly after 11pm. Kent Police were also in attendance to help manage the traffic around the site. The cause of the fire is not yet known. A Screwfix spokseperson said, “Our Sittingbourne store will remain closed while investigations take place following a fire at the site late on January 6 after it shut for the day. Fortunately, no staff or customers were harmed but there has been some damage to the premises. “We will reopen as soon as possible and thank our customers for their patience while the store is closed.”


Four fire engines tackled the blaze at Screwfix, Sittingbourne


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