Glee is back, singing and dancing

As an ex-garden centre manager of some vintage I have, in recent years, often lamented the time when Glee was the one place you had to be in the UK, no matter what happened through the rest of the year. It was where we met all our friends in the trade, renewed old acquaintances and, most importantly, kindled the dreams of the forthcoming season. It is with some sadness that this has not been the case of late, however…

2014 was different!

Located in new halls, with a new focus, a new energy and an air of positivity, this year’s event proved to be successful beyond imagination from the very second that visitors entered the show.

Housed in the glass roofed atrium at the entrance, the “Green Heart” put plants in prime position, exposing every visitor to a truly eye-catching display of everything from herbs and bedding plants to trees, shrubs, alpines and houseplants, instilling a pumping beat into the show from the offset.

This exciting display was created by some of the biggest names in UK nurseries including John Woods, Lovania, Wharton’s and Gardeners Kitchen.

The New Product Showcase and Glee Awards were as popular as ever with more than 270 ground-breaking products entered into the nine key garden retail categories. Nordic Garden Buildings’ Veranda Summer house scooped this years’ Glee Retailers Choice Award.

The International Buyers Connect (led by Gardenex) meetings that were a new feature at Glee 2014 received high praise from Graham Kinsman, the long-standing U.S. wholesaler of garden products. He found his one-to-one sessions with potential new suppliers to be an excellent opportunity, and hopes to do business with a number of the contacts he made.

With restaurants, cafes, food halls and farm shops constituting an increasingly important role in UK garden centres, the Food and Catering Zone has become an essential ingredient within the show for both centres setting up facilities from scratch and those looking to upgrade existing operations.

The seminar programme was better attended than it had been for many a year, with each day following an identical format, starting with David Denny of the Horticultural Trades Association drawing on research by the Garden Industry Marketing Board into what 30- to 45-year-olds want from their gardens. He explained that they are the social media generation, and it requires us to focus on self-contained and achievable gardens using quirky imagery and novel plants.

This was followed with the inimitable John Stanley, who blocked the aisles whilst he gave his overview of the garden centre in 2020 with the need to focus on engagement because interaction appeals to the millennial generation. He urged retailers to focus on the overall experience of gardening, encourage bloggers to become advocates for the business, and use consistent messaging through social media and also in-store.

For my own part, I presented a visual seminar entitled “Plants are Back, But Not In Straight Rows,” which suggested ideas for using moods, colours and scents when merchandising in store and using narration to guide customers through a display to develop and convert into sales.

The final seminar each day was led by Edwin Meijer of Garden Connect who emphasised the importance of web shops and smart phones in the retail environment and how retailers should embrace technology to encourage customers to visit the garden centre more frequently through offers, coupons, and click and collect.

The success of the show was such that nearly 60 percent of the show space was already booked for 2015 before the end of the show. “This means we are in a fantastic position to grow Glee beyond the 12 percent growth that we achieved in 2014,” says Matthew Mein, event manager at Glee. “It’s an extremely exciting prospect.”

Now, I am not one to be continually wishing my life away, but something inside me has a yearning to fast-forward to next September and once again experience what is fast becoming an essential ingredient in the garden trade year. I’m looking forward to meeting even more new friends, from both the UK and farther afield, with a complementary desire to grow our industry and take it successfully through the challenging times ahead.

Kevin has worked as an independent garden center consultant to retailers, suppliers, DIY stores and trade organizations all over the world since 1995. Before that time he was a garden centre manager with three leading UK garden retailers. kevin@thegardenworks.co.uk