This week the North’s largest garden centre, Simpsons, welcomed 35 Horticultural Trade Association (HTA) members and garden centre / nursery owners from across the Midlands and East Anglia.
The group were also joined by representatives from Westland Horticulture Ltd and Smart Garden Products Ltd as a destination on the Midlands and East Anglia HTA Business Improvement Scheme (BIS) annual ‘study tour’.
The HTA BIS is a well-established scheme to help small to medium sized independent retailers come together to share ideas, industry knowledge, provide ongoing support and advice, and inevitably help their businesses to grow and develop.
The annual ‘study tour’ is an opportunity for members to visit different regions and gain first hand open and transparent advice to help further their businesses, with discussions surrounding growth strategies, turnover, where we first began vs. the present day, sustainability ambitions, and so much more.
Siobhan MacBean, Marketing Manager said “It was such a privilege to be part of the HTA BIS Scottish study tour, and we’d like to thank the HTA for including Simpsons as a venue. This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase what we do here across the business, share insights and growth plans as well as discuss the highs and lows of the garden centre industry at this time.
“The HTA BIS study tours are a great way to share information, learn and be inspired. Our own owner and director Andrew Simpson attended such study tours at the beginning of the Simpsons journey over 25 years ago, so it was a real 360 moment for the business and see how far it’s come”.