The garden centre association ’s ( GCA ) recent barometer of trade ( BoT ) account for February has disclose furniture and barbecue sales at garden centers pick up a 79.17 % year to date increase during the calendar month ( 2021 ) . Although Welsh , Scottish and Northern Irish center were close in February , as crucial retail merchant , English centers persist undetermined and recorded prescribed gross sales in seven of the 13 BoT categories .
Iain Wylie , GCA Chief Executive , explained : “ February is normally a quieter calendar month for our members and with center in Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland still closed , it was a very difficult month for many and , subsequently , the majority of our members immortalise figures that were down from previous years .
“ There were decrease in just under 50 % of our BoT categories . Cafés and restaurants ordinarily serve drive footfall in center of attention during quieter gardening months like February , but hospitality , clearly , remained unopen .
“ The weather was also challenging in February , with just a handful of ironic , calm , milder days , and this will have put many off being outdoors during the month . However , those appendage who were open have started to see some green shoots of retrieval in some area . It ’s also wonderful to keep to see nurseryman braving the elements and getting ready for spring . It is clear horticulture remains an essential bodily function to avail boost the res publica ’s health and wellbeing too .
“ Garden centre proceed to be community hubs and places for people to collect all their essential shopping , including necessary gardening item and , also , food and produce from on - website food halls and farm shops . Consequently , food hall and farm store sales for the month were up , yr to date , by 25.49 % .
“ It was clear in February that multitude were preparing to expend more time in their garden this twelvemonth again and they were arrest ready by buy piece of furniture and barbecues betimes . The other category to perform well in February included hard landscape gardening with sales up 24.92 % , garden sundries up at 20.4 % and seeds and bulbs up 19.34 % . ”
Sales in out-of-door plants were up too at 8 % and houseplants were up by 3.62 % The six categories that were down , year to date , in February were catering at -96.45 % , which is due to the cloture of cordial reception , vesture -36.47 % , gift sales -26.23 % and sales in pets and aquatics , which were down by -13.4 % .
Iain total : “ Christmas was also down by -54.04 % , as centres did n’t have line hanging around in the same way as they had in the previous yr due to buoyant festive trading at the end of 2020 . Instead , many replace their traditional post - Christmas body process by setting up early on for spring and , therefore , captured some early sales when the weather was pleasant . ”
Overall sales for the month were down year - to - date by -6.89 % .
The GCA BoT reports are accumulate using actual sales figures and provide an up - to - date trading posture statement . They are made available mid - month stick with the death of the anterior calendar month after all member garden centres have submitted their results .
