NEWS Wyevale agrees sale of nine garden centres


Wyevale Garden Centres, Britain’s biggest garden centre operator, has announced the sale of nine more garden centres. The centres are Brooks, Nailsworth, Aldridge, Keynsham, Shirley, World of Pets and Leisure (WOPAL), Codicote, Sudbury and Oxford.


WGC chief executive Roger Mclaughlan said: “We are pleased to have agreed the sale of our garden centres. In the case of those centres which have been sold for use, we are very


alternative pleased to


honour our commitments to our colleagues and partners and will seek to redeploy our excellent colleagues in our other garden centres wherever possible in coming months. “We would like to thank


our great colleagues at these centres, who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years.” WOPAL, Codicote, Aldridge, Keynsham and Shirley have been sold in separate transactions to purchasers who are expected to develop the sites for alternative use. These centres


sale, while Codicote is expected to continue until early 2019. WGC chief financial officer Jones


Anthony added: “The


were previously identified for potential redevelopment as part of the company’s active portfolio management strategy.


Aldridge and Keynsham are expected to continue to operate as garden centres for up to six months after completion of the


Akzo Nobel acquires Doves Decorating Supplies


Akzo Nobel’s Dulux Decorating Centre


business has


strengthened its position with the purchase of Surrey-based business Doves Decorating Supplies. With four stores in Caterham, Dorking, Redhill and Reigate Akzo Nobel


takes Nobel’s its total


number of Dulux Decorator Centres in the UK to 216. Akzo


director of decorative paints Alistair McAuley


said:


managing “We’re


confident that the Doves Decorating Supplies business will make an excellent addition to the DDC network. “The purchase of Doves Decorating Supplies provides a brilliant opportunity for us to further


improve our capacity and service capability for our


Amazon named as UK’s most


reputable retailer in new study


Amazon was followed by Boots and John Lewis who came a respective second and third in the Reputation Institute’s 2018 UK Retail RepTrak research based on 5,175 individual ratings from the general public. The study found that Amazon’s


reputation has significantly improved since last year with a an 8.3% increase. The public voted Amazon as


the


top retailer in the categories of products and service, innovation, leadership, and performance. Chief reputation officer at Reputation Institute, Stephen Hahn-Griffiths said: “Amazon’s combination of selection, value, personalisation, and no hassle customer service is a winning formula. Amazon has a loyal following with more than 100 million Amazon Prime subscribers ‘Prime Day’ sales have become a major retail event.


www.diyweek.net


Above: Doves Decorating Supplies in Surrey is to become the latest Dulux Decorating Centre


contractor and decorator customers in the region. We’re delighted to welcome Doves Decorating Supplies employees to the Akzo Nobel family.” Doves Decorating Supplies will continue to trade under its current trading format from


its stores operating under the leadership of John Henderson, managing director, Dulux Decorator Centre.


Dulux Decorator Centres, which sell Dulux Trade, Armstead, Cuprinol and Sikkens ranges as well as other decorating


supplies, offer on hand expert advice to customers as well as helping with green initiatives by offering can recycling and more sustainable products such as the latest water-based paints. Earlier this month the company announced it had purchased the business and assets of Surrey- based Trade Paints. Trade Paints will continue to trade under its current trading format from its stores in Epsom, East Molesey and Sutton operating under the leadership of John Henderson, Dulux Decorator Centre managing director. “Trade


Paints is a enable


business with a strong customer base and will


us


great to


develop our store operations and business in Surrey,” said Mr McAuley.


Cardiff garden centre goes up in flames again


Blue Diamond Garden Centre in Cardiff suffered a blow this week after a fire destroyed large amounts of stock – less than five years after the centre was completely destroyed by a blaze back in November 2013. Luckily firefighters, who were called to the St Mellons business in the early hours of last Sunday (August


26), were able to


control the blaze and stop a repeat of the 2013 inferno. However, it is understood that a significant amount of stock has been lost and some damage has occurred. A


spokesperson


Above: Blue Diamond Garden Centre in Cardiff was hit by a blaze this week, though luckily not as devastating as the fire which destroyed the business back in 2013.


for Blue


Diamond said: “We are aware of a small bin fire on the outside of the premises, the cause of which is unknown. A small amount of damage had occurred to the side of the building. “Thankfully the fire was extinguished as our on-site video surveillance systems picked this up and alerted the emergency


services. The police have been informed and are investigating the incident.


“One concession has been


affected and will be closed for a short while whilst we make necessary repairs.” South Wales Fire department added: “A call was received at 5.49am to reports of a fire at a commercial business


in


Trowbridge. Crews from Roath and Duffryn were mobilised to contain the fire. The incident has been handed over to South Wales Police.”


The St Mellons garden centre


– formerly known as Blooms Garden Centre – only reopened two years ago following the 2013 blaze, which completely gutted the property. Police are


investigating this week’s blaze


and have asked


currently for


anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers quoting occurrence number 1800325119.


07 SEPTEMBER 2018 DIY WEEK 5


centres sold to date had been highlighted as ‘non core’ as part of our ongoing portfolio review, which predated the sale process. The sale of these centres reflects our continued pursuit of positive outcomes for our colleagues, concession partners, suppliers and customers. We are very grateful for the dedication and commitment of the teams at these centres, and we’ll continue to support transition.”


them through the


August brings spend increase, but garden


centres see only marginal growth


Britons spent 4.5% more this August compared with the same month last year, maintaining the strong levels seen over


the summer as


a whole, according to the latest data from Barclaycard. However, garden centre businesses only saw a 0.5% growth in stark contrast to double digit growth seen in earlier months.


Essential spending increased by 6.9% year-on-year with a rise in supermarket expenditure of 5%. ‘Non-essential’ expenditure also saw an increase, growing by 3.4%. Having


spent more


usual over the summer, 34% of consumers now say they are planning to reduce expenditure. According to Barclaycard,


“a degree of uncertainty about the future is also likely to be driving this caution.” Nearly 58% of Brits are worried that rising inflation will leave them with less money to spend each month, while a similar proportion (56%) are concerned that rising energy prices will leave them worse off. Barclaycard director Esme Harwood said: “It appears that many consumers are planning to tighten their belts and keep a closer eye on their finances after spending more than usual over summer.”


than


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