A lifestyle venue and garden centre in one!

GCU talks to Paul Butchers Managing Director of Cadbury Garden and Leisure about striking the perfect balance between ‘garden centre' and ‘department store' in this flagship store

Published: 10 November, 2009

Cadbury Garden and Leisure boasts seven stores across the UK, was this the first one to be established and if so when?

The Bristol store was indeed the first, receiving new buildings and a re-fit in 2000. The others soon followed.

How would you describe your store?

Large! Cadbury Garden and Leisure is a department store for the gardener. Though we are strong on plants, sundries and chemicals, we offer much more besides. The store houses a number of different departments including Leisure; Gifts, Crafts and Hobbies; Clothing; Toys; Books and Cards; Pets and Aquatics; a restaurant serving food cooked to order, in addition to a huge Christmas offering. You could call us a 'lifestyle destination' as many of our customers come for maybe four or five hours at a time, often stopping for lunch. We focus heavily on customer service, ensuring we have optimum staff and that they are not busy putting stock out during busy periods, but helping customers. Staff are given jobs that they can easily break away from.

We are not just about gardening - we offer a much wider range of services. As a result, we have a lot of concessions operating under one roof, including a shed concession, an angling concession, Edinburgh Woolen Mill in the clothing sector, a footwear and foot care concession called Shuropody and a florist. So, we are more than just another garden centre and this is our point of difference. We have a major Christmas offering which makes up a large part of our sales from October to December. In the last couple of years we have also branched out into oak furniture, which complements our outdoor ranges and is also selling well.

Believe it or not, a lot of plant sales are impulsive - a customer might come in for a plant but not necessarily know which, so the chances are they will walk out with more than they came in for! It's about linking sales effectively and offering a wide and diverse product range that will enable this to happen.

Cadbury Garden and Leisure recently scooped a Silver at the 'Britain's Best Retailer Awards' for the 'Best Garden Retailer' category for 2009, talk us through what has made this store so successful?

In the last couple of years we have really focussed on customer service, sales training and retail standards. We ensure that our goods are presented in a manner that will entice customers to shop. An external body is used for mystery shopping and I meet with my Customer Service Manager every month to analyse the results and look at ways of improving the store. Everything we do is based on our staff and making them the best that they can be.

What has trade been like so far this year and are you expecting a busy Christmas?

Trade has been kind. We had a great start to the season which carried us through the summer. So far there has been a continuation of this success in October. Im optimistic about what we are going to see. Christmas Decorations are already selling well - this weekend (16th-18th October) was particularly good.

Why do you think garden centres are becoming more and more appealing to the consumer?

Makeover programmes had a lot of influence a few years ago, but now customers are coming to us very focused on conservation, saving the planet and 'grow your own'. It's not just the traditional gardener either, even youngsters are growing their own vegetables. There has been a massive change in the industry - there is far more awareness of the need to improve our lifestyles, to be more healthy and reduce our carbon footprint, and this is reflected in the products we sell.

Do you have an online platform?

We have a website and online shop which is growing all the time.

Tel: 01934 875700

Email: Info@cadbury.g-l.co.uk