Major Garden Centre Chains To Close

Klondyke, Millbrook and number of leading garden centres have announced that they will close, doing what’s best for staff and customers during the Coronavirus crisis. Others are set to follow.

• Klondyke has said its stores will close from 5.30pm today (Monday 23rd March).
• Poplars Garden Centre in Toddington says it has made the difficult but sensible decision to close at 4pm on Monday 23rd March, until further notice.
• Millbrook - In light of recent government guidance, we have made the decision to close and will no longer be doing take aways. This decision has been made to protect the safety of our valued customers, and wonderful workers and families in mind 😊. 
• Caulders Unfortunately as of 5pm on Monday 23rd March Caulders will be temporarily closed. A heartbreaking decision, but we need to do what’s best for our brilliant staff and our lovely customers.
• Planters at Tamworth & Planters at Bretby. For the safety of our staff and customers our centres will be closed for the foreseeable future.
• Perrywood - Due to the latest advice on social distancing we have taken the decision not to open at Perrywood Tiptree or Perrywood Sudbury.
• Stewarts have also decided to close for all but phone and online orders.

Garden Centre Groups

Some other garden centre groups have said that they remain open and measures have been put in place so that staff and customers conform with the 2m separation rule. However, they are monitoring the situation closely, whether they can continue trading in this way. Other decisions to close are expected.

A secondary consideration to the health of staff and customers is preserving the business. Restaurants are closed and sales of non-gardening items are falling. The point will come when it is better for a business to close rather than see its cash drain away.

Cashflow

There will be a knock-on effect in the garden retail supply chain. As garden centres close or scale back they will be ordering less. More immediately they will focus on preserving cash, certainly until the amount and timing of Government support becomes clearer. This means they are likely to take longer to pay suppliers.

Source : Reproduced with permission from Gardenforum

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the largest UK home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY newsletter.