Garden centres in the Eighties

The garden centre of the 80’s varied greatly from town to town but they all had one obvious key obvious element; they all stocked plants. Everything else tended to vary from garden centre to garden centre. Some had small sheds that housed a collection of chemical and the odd tool, some stocked a little paving, others some pond products. Very few had a coffee shop or restaurant. Apart from one or two large garden centres this meant that each garden centre tended to specialise is something. One might be famous for its pond section another for its tree collection and so on.
Far from being the almost social gathering place that many garden centres now are, most garden centres were places that you visited when you needed something. You went there to buy your hedging or fruit trees. You called to get the chemicals you needed to spray your roses or the hose to water your plant. Gardens meant work.
Gardening wasn’t sexy, like it was to become in the late nineties and noughties, which meant that garden centres were far from the in places to visit or be seen in. Younger people avoided them; gardening was something your parents and grand parents did. I can remember being almost embarrassed telling people where I worked, as a career in horticulture had, dare I say it, a certain “sissy” quality to it that it has thankfully lost!

Second Contact

My next and more permanent contact with garden centres happened a couple of years later. I had gone to college to study computer programming but after a few months I knew that it wasn’t for me. I dropped out with the idea of doing industrial design the following year. I decided that I had better get a temporary job to pay my way and my mum suggested that I try the local garden centre as they had recently moved and might be looking for more staff. Looking back I’m surprised she didn’t apply herself, she seemed to live there anyway.
I spruced myself up as much as possible and arrived at the garden centre early one morning. After waiting a moment or two at the tills a lady appeared from the office to see if I was all right.
“I was wondering if there was a job going at the moment?” I asked rather nervously.
“There might be,” the lady said, “Where are you from?”
“Crettyard.” I said, “I think you might know my mum, Ena Kelly?”
“Ah yes,” she said after a moments thought,” She’s in her quite often isn’t she?” No kidding, I thought, nodding in agreement.
“Can you start Monday?”
“Sure. No problem” I said.
So started my career in horticulture and retail which has spanned over 20 years so far with many highs and also the occasional low.

My First Contact with a Garden Centre

My first contact with a garden centre was on a dreary Saturday morning in mid 1980’s. I was awoken from a deep and comfortable sleep by a hammering on the back door of my mum and dad’s house in rural Ireland. Bleary eyed and still somewhat comatose I unlocked the back door to find a man waiting impatiently at the back door.
“This if for ye. Keep it away from the dog.” He said, handing me a clear plastic bag with a pale brown powder in it.
“What?!” I blurted out. Before I could get an explanation from the enigmatic, hurried man he had headed for our gate.
“The plants are out the back. Tell your mother sorry about the delay” He shouted as he leapt into a small white van with a huge red rose printed on the side and sped off out of my life.
I stood stunned for a moment or so and tried to comprehend what had happened. Plants? Brown powder? Had this been a drug drop to the wrong house or worse still the right one?
I gingerly stuck my head around the back of the house and saw, lying against the wall, a collection of green plants and bare trees. They had tags that said “White Beam” and “Sky Rocket”. Although I had lived in the country all my life and knew most, if not all, of the native trees these names were new to me and sounded more like the latest offering from Ford or Opel.
I had a vague recollection of my mum and dad out measuring, discussing and gesticulating on the newly planted lawn in the front half acre of our site. At that stage of my life I was more interested computers, TV and reading to bother with what was happening in the front garden. The last time I had “worked” in the garden was picking potatoes, years previously, in the drills that formed an excellent hiding place from my older sisters and picking the buds of my mum’s pink roses, which were planted closer to the house. I don’t think she knew it was me. She thought she had a strange new bug or bird which would pick and peel the buds leaving them scattered in the potato drills. Little did she know that no amount of sudsy water was going to solve the problem. (I guess I’m in trouble now!)
The brown powder turned out to be Bone Meal of course and my mum and dad dutifully put a handful of it under each plant as they planted the first “real” plants we ever had in our garden. My mum hasn’t looked back since and to this day, although the house has changed, her passion for plants hasn’t.

After I left my job back in December I decided to take a couple of months off where I wouldn’t look at retail, just to decide where I wanted to go with my life. I’d just chill out, spend time with my family and take it easy. Sounds simple doesn’t it?
It worked for the first few days but after a while I noticed that I was becoming more aware of the shops I was visiting. When I was working, I guess, other retailers didn’t affect me so much as I was too busy concentrating on my own thoughts and ideas for the business I was running. Sure, you would take on board an idea another retailer was finding success with and you would occasionally, when time allowed, visit other garden centres. On your days off you tended not to let it sink in as you were always in a hurry.
Suddenly I began to notice a change in myself. I began questioning how or why the retailers around me were doing the things they were. From the largest supermarket to the local coffee shop I was suddenly curious about everything they did. This was much to the annoyance of my partner who would have to drag me away from Tescos POS equipment when they had their shutter up and I could see their printing machines and signage. I didn’t just want to know how the did things, I NEEDED to know.
Then it struck me that although I had tried to leave retail behind it still had a firm grip on me. I think it’s the same for all of us. It gets into your system like a virus and you have no control over it. There is no antidote, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
I know now that retail was never going to be in my past. I was foolish to think it would be.
So, I’ve now embraced it again. All be it from another angle.

I guess I’m saying these things to give you an idea of where I was and where I am now. I can’t get enough of it now. From web articles to books to getting out and about. I love it. It’s a passion.

Anyone else out there with a passion for retail?

The start

This is the start of my blog on all thing retail. please feel free to comment or disagree with anything I say. I might not agree but I won't mind!