The Wyevale Garden Centre name will almost disappear as the garden specialist ploughs ahead with a major rebranding to return it to its “horticultural roots”.
Wyevale has now been renamed The Garden Centre Group by Nicholas Marshall who joined Wyevale as chief executive in November.
Marshall will return most of the centres to the names they were before Wyevale took them over. Wyevale branding has been removed from 90 of the chain’s 122 centres, around 10 of its outlets will keep the Wyevale name.
Today the business said that like-for-like sales in the year to June 30 grew 6 per cent.
Marshall told The Times that he wants the outlets to resemble local garden centres. “Garden centre customers aren’t interested in national brands. They’re interested in the local brand of the local garden centre. My mother, in Dorset used to refer to her local garden centre as if it was hers. Friendly and knowledgeable staff and quality plants. I want to take the business back to its horticultural roots, away from turning it into another shed like the DIY retailers,” he said.
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