GCA Announces Scotland And Northern Ireland Award Winners

GARDEN Centre Association (GCA) members in Scotland and Northern Ireland are celebrating after picking up awards during a presentation evening this week (Tuesday, August 23, 2022) at Klondyke Polmont Garden Centre. 

In Scotland, Simpsons Garden Centre was awarded Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries (GC) category. In Northern Ireland, Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC) received the accolade.

Tammy Woodhouse, GCA Chairman, said: “Our final regional awards presentation evening was a great success and it was great to hear from inspector, Gordon Emslie, who presented his findings from his inspections, which took place earlier in the year. 

“We’d like to thank Klondyke Polmont for being fantastic hosts for the evening and all our attendees for taking on all the feedback as we know they will be taking it back to their own centres in order to make any improvements straight away.” 

GCA Inspector Gordon was responsible for inspecting member garden centres in the Scotland and Northern Ireland areas. 

He said: “It was lovely to be back visiting Scotland and Northern Ireland again. The overall operating and service standards being delivered in every centre was excellent. 

“None of the centres have stood still over the last five years and the businesses have all invested heavily in developing their offer, growing sales and giving customers a unique retail shopping experience. There was a great level of consistency experienced across all centres which demonstrates their practical use of the inspection process.” 

Simpsons Garden Centre picked up a total of six awards on the night. 

Andrew Simpson, Director at Simpsons Garden Centre, said: “Being presented ‘Scotland’s Destination Garden Centre of the Year’ is a huge honour. This has been without doubt the most challenging few years we have ever faced as a business, and I want to thank our staff for their amazing and continued hard work, determination and dedication. 

“Going forward we are committed to investing in the business and our team, so that we can continue to deliver an exceptional retail experience for our customers and create new employment opportunities for the local community. 

“We set out to create a business that was rooted in the Highlands and we firmly believe that we have achieved this. We have a bold, exciting vision for Simpsons that we believe will set us apart from other garden centres.” 

Second image (Second left) GCA Inspector, Gordon Emslie and the team at Simpsons Garden Centre, which was awarded Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category.

Creative Gardens Bushmills was also awarded the Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant. 

The full results for the Scotland region GCA area awards are as follows for the GC and DGC categories: 

• Garden Centre of the Year: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries (GC)
  
  
• Customer Service Award for Best Customer Service: Klondyke Polmont Garden Centre
  
  
• Environment and Sustainability Award: Joint winners Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries, Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre and Simpsons Garden Centre.
  
  
• The Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Innovation and Creativity: Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries
  
  
• The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Klondyke Polmont Garden Centre
  
  
• The Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Mayfield Garden Centre (GC)
  
  
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries (GC)
  
  
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Dunbar Garden Centre (GC)
  
  
• The Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Polmont Garden Centre (GC)

The full results for the Northern Ireland region GCA area awards are as follows for the GC and DGC categories:

• Garden Centre of the Year: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)
  
  
• Customer Service Award for Best Customer Service: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee
  
  
• Environment and Sustainability Award: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee
  
  
• The Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Innovation and Creativity: Creative Gardens, Logwood
  
  
• The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee
  
  
• The Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)
  
  
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee (GC) 
  
  
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: Creative Gardens, Bushmills (GC)
  
  
• The Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee (GC)

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide.

Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability. 

For further information, please visit www.gca.org.uk.

Source : GCA

Main image: Garden Centre of the Year (GC) winners, Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries, with (back right) GCA Inspector, Gordon Emslie.

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