Think of a garden centre chain and what comes to mind? Crowds of people vying over mass cut-price offers maybe, huge noisy tea rooms or Christmas decorations on sale before the children have gone back to school? And why is it that so many garden centre chains appear to be looking more like leisure complexes every day?
Does this sound familiar? Forgive us for being so negative but we know that’s the idea that has sprung up about garden centres – and it couldn’t be further than our approach. As a family business, we are determined to listen to our customers, adapt with the times and keep the trust of those who choose to spend their hard-earned cash with us.
Why? Because our future depends on it. We’re currently considering expanding our growing area – we already have some 11 acres. At our former premises in Harborne, we grew pick your own cut flowers. It was such a talking point and one we find ourselves thinking about again as we head into 2018. Demand is there and we are considering the best way to meet it.
We were established 70 years ago and our values of excellence in quality and customer care are as important today as they were back in 1947. We provide genuine one to one expert care.
We listen to our customers and work hard to gather feedback.
Maybe we chat to them as they buy, we ask them to fill in an online form or we respond to comments through social media. All of this means we know our customers, we know what they like and that’s why they return. That’s why we opened our Potting Shed Café – and couldn’t be more pleased at how it has progressed.
Now it has reached the stage where we need to extend the building as so much feedback tells us more people wanted to enjoy it. Yes it will be bigger to help serve more people, but everything we do, expanding The Potting Shed included, is based around being small enough to care. Rest assured a new-look Potting Shed will retain our cosy, fresh feel.
So in summary, please talk to us! We want to know what you want so we can help you find it. We don’t want our customers to come in and then leave quickly.
We want to continue to build mutually beneficial relationships with you, embrace your custom and help you embrace our differences from the garden centre chains. This means continually guaranteeing a high standard of service.
And we promise, we will never ever look like a leisure centre!