Reinventing the independent garden centre

By John Stanley, Sid Raisch and Dries Jansen

This series of articles aims to look at the future opportunities, changes and challenges that independent garden centres around the globe face in the next few years. Before we look into our crystal ball, we should first look back. The first garden centre in the world, it is believed, was developed in 1955 by Edward Stewart, a nurseryperson in Dorset, England. This was followed by Siebenthaler’s Garden Centre in Dayton, Ohio, and Lasscock’s Garden Centre in Adelaide, South Australia.

By the time Scott McKenzie was singing ‘Be sure to wear flowers in your hair’ in 1967, garden centres were a part of the marketplace in most developed countries. The horticultural colleges were full of students, and the industry was booming. Garden centres were the places of innovation as nursery owners developed new ways to display and grow plants, and new product categories related to gardening were introduced. Their customers, whom we now call Baby Boomers, purchased plants based on flower and colour. Independent garden centres had a wonderful decade of innovation that carried on until around the mid-1980s

From that period on, three things happened.

One is that hardware retailers eyed up the garden category and decided they could construct product-led garden centres alongside their hardware stores. These departments have proved to be very successful and continue to take market share under the format of ‘box stores’.

Secondly, most independent garden centres have failed to evolve. They often look the same as they did a decade ago. In many countries, the only visual difference in garden centres is the addition of branding for plants. Now, the consolidation into small chains and emerging private equity-controlled groups will change the cost structures but not the consumer experience.  

Thirdly, Baby Boomers have been replaced by Gen Y and Gen Z, who are looking for sustainability and plants that attract pollinators, birds, and butterflies, and often produce food.

As a result of these three factors, many independent garden centres have disappeared from the retail scene.

In the same period, other retailers in other sectors have changed their retail models as the market has changed. As a general rule in retailing, you should make minor changes to your retail model every 2 to 3 years and a major overhaul every 5 to 7 years. This is why Marks and Spencer Food Stores in the United Kingdom look completely different to a decade ago, as do McDonald’s and other leading retailers.

Many retailers have become experiential, such as RH gallery stores in the USA and Canada. This luxury home furnishings store was formerly known as Restoration Hardware. These stores are large, gallery-like showrooms that often feature a restaurant, wine bars and an interior design studio.

Another experiential store that comes to mind is ‘Seed to Table’. This grocery store is part of the Oakes Farms family of companies, owned by Alfie Oakes. Oakes Farms, which has 3,500 acres of farmland in Immokalee, Florida, grow a variety of fruits and vegetables that are distributed to their retail stores. This is as unique a grocery store as you have never seen before, featuring several restaurants, bars and live entertainment seven nights a week.

Every other category of retail has changed, becoming more experiential, and nearly all other retail segments are now completely omnichannel. Companies like Walmart and Amazon are leading the way into becoming media companies. 

Why change the model?

Changing the model means your customers will not get bored with your store. It enables you to keep up with trends in the marketplace, evolve as customer preferences evolve, and is often driven by data insights into the industry and your business.

The question for garden centres

It is not why we should change or what we should change, it is that as an industry we need to change as soon as possible, or independent garden centres will die.

Adapt or die

Our series of articles this year will look at the future evolution of the independent garden centre. We plan to develop this series into a workshop along the theme ‘Adapt or die’.

Each article will take on a specific subject and go into depth on the why, where and how.

We hope you enjoy the series!

John Stanley

E: john@johnstanley.com.au

Sid Raisch

E: sid@advantagedevelopment.ai

Dries Jansen

E: info@gardencenteradvice.com