British Garden Centres Completes Hillview Acquisition

Hillview Garden Centres has been trading as part of British Garden Centres since September, but only today has the deal been completed for BGC to buy them from the Hillview Group.

The transaction included both the operational business and portfolio of eight garden centres of HGC: Charlbury, Heanor, Studley, Matlock, Charlecote, Bromsgrove, Tenbury Wells and Newton Regis.

This latest acquisition brings the total number of stores in British Garden Centres to 57, making them the UK's second largest garden centre group numerically, following their purchase of 39 Wyevale garden centres.

Commenting, BGC director Phillipa Stubbs said “The most exciting part of this latest acquisition is the fit. Not only does this group of centres help with our geographical expansion, but the whole culture of the Hillview team slots so well into the British Garden Centre philosophy.

“We are focusing on bringing all the benefits of a larger organisation whilst retaining the strengths of a family run business. Our individual centre teams all have their own local personality and close relationships with loyal customers. My job is to support them in doing what’s right in their own centres.”

Boyd Douglas-Davies

Hillview Garden Centres has been run for the past 8 years by Boyd Douglas-Davies who will be taking up a senior role at British Garden Centres with immediate effect.

The eight centres have been trading under the British Garden Centre umbrella since late-September under an agreement with Hillview Group that was designed to ensure the business made the most of the busy Christmas trading period. The approach has already paid dividends with the centres reporting strong sales up on the same period last year.  

www.britishgardencentres.com

Source : Reproduced with permission from George Bullivant at GardenForum.co.uk

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