Nice cafe, big Christmas displays, but have they remembered about the plants?
Gardening is very seasonal and in the past garden centres were very busy in the spring but quiet for the rest of the year.
This was normal in the 70s and 80s, some garden centres had nurseries or landscaping departments to take up the slack but often staff would be laid off during the winter.
The Centres were also at the mercy of the weather and poor spring sales could be disastrous, with no chance to improve the figures until the next spring, staff were often laid off through the summer.
In an effort to make their businesses less reliant on the weather, garden centres added, some non-gardening stock, cafes and other attractions.
Then Christmas decorations started to be sold using the spare shop space to create inspiration displays, now busy throughout the year staff could be employed permanently.
A wet spring could still cause problems so some garden centres covered the outdoor areas to allow customers to keep shopping for plants even when it’s raining.
Finally, you could shop all year round.
We now had all the ingredients for a destination shopping experience.
Bridgemere garden centre was probably the first of the large destination garden centres, with a vast plant offering, show gardens, and its own nursery.
Now owned by the Blue diamond group, the nursery was reduced when owned by Wyevale, so it will be interesting to see how it progresses under new ownership.
It attracted huge numbers of visitors this was the forerunner of large destination centres, developed to offer more of a day out experience with cafes, cookshops, food and gift items and large Christmas displays.
Some believe that the big centres have forgotten about the plants but I think the ability to retain your talented staff, including the ones responsible for the fantastic Christmas displays, has helped improve all of the garden department displays including the plants and helped covert the Christmas shoppers into gardeners.
The early success of the big centres has attracted interest from the mainstream retailers so we now have a bit of a mixed bag of large Garden centres.
Some have become more like department stores, adding lots of different products and sometimes forgetting they have Garden centre on the sign above the door.
When Tesco took over Dobbies they didn’t really understand the market, they thought it was all about price, and forgot about the shopping experience. Now with new owners, there are promising signs that a corner has been turned.
Good garden centre retailers are passionate about plants and gardening, a concept the corporate retailers have struggled with.
Some other out of town retail shopping destinations have joined in by adding garden centres to their offering, not always successfully.
Many of the garden centre groups have created large centres and some do a good job but I think the best, are the ones that are still independently owned.
Some are still family-run, they sell a lot of plants and have invested in covered areas allowing you to shop even when the weather is bad.
The majority of the big destination centres are part of the Garden Centre Association, GCA members have regular inspections to encourage high retail standards and competitions for the best displays.
Advantages
- Knowledgeable staff, with regular inspections to maintain quality displays.
- Plants mostly undercover, keeping them in good condition and so you can shop in the rain.
- The ability to buy and sell in volume often gives some bargain prices.
- Large range of stock sometimes limited during the Christmas season.
- Great for a day out most have very good catering & farm shops.
Disadvantages
- You may have to get the car out and make a special trip.
- Some have too many non-gardening distractions.
- You might hear christmas carols in October
