Group adds five indie garden centres for combined retail turnover of £185m
Garden centre buying group Choice Marketing has added a further five independent outlets to its nationwide network, taking it to 52 members.
Having already picked up three earlier in the year, the group has grown significantly in 2023 with the latest members being Goonhavern and Chacewater in Cornwall, Gardentime in Dartmouth, Swarkestone in Derbyshire and Scott’s Of Southend in Essex – meaning it has beaten its goal of 50, with a combined retail turnover above £185million.
Choice ceo Michelle De Lavis-Trafford said “We are delighted to have welcomed all five of these lovely garden centres into the Choice family, and we look forward to helping them improve their profitability, sharing in our group successes and generally sharing best practice.
“Although all our member centres are independently owned and run, we do speak with one voice in our relationships with our suppliers.”
And those suppliers include many greetings and gift companies across the offer in the sector that’s expanded far beyond plants and tools, as shown by member Highfield Garden World, of Whitminster, triumphing in the Best Garden Centre Retailer Of Greeting Cards category at The Retas Awards in June.
Family-owned Goonhavern and Chacewater are both run by Liz and Chris Finney, while Chris Varlow is md and owner at Gardentime, the Jackson family look after Swarkestone, and Scott Bird took over Reads Of Sutton in 2018 then changed its name to Scott’s Of Southend.
Michelle explained that Choice paid a record amount of rebate back to members at over £2.6m for 2022, adding: “This really does exemplify the power and positive rewards of working together within an established organisation, with fantastic support from our key suppliers.”
And back in February she said: “Great start to the new year as we are delighted to announce the addition of a further two new members taking us to 47 independent garden centres. We have a potential two further members in the pipeline leaving just one more before we reach our goal of 50.”
With members from the nine-strong Caulders indie group in Scotland, down to as far south as Truro in Cornwall, the buying and marketing group operates as a cooperative and has used its buying strength to forge relationships with over 200 key suppliers throughout the garden, gift, greetings, home and leisure sectors.
It is also partnered with a full-service retail marketing agency offering members a bespoke marketing plan including access to creative, graphic, web and promotional initiatives such as leaflets, posters, signage, e-newsletters and the Choice Marketing loyalty scheme to develop customer retention.
