I agree absolutely Fairygirl. What's the point in having half a dozen garden centres within a small radius, all offering precisely the same plants? Wyevale aren't a garden centre, they're a sales robot. Though if the diminishing customer numbers at my previously favourite independent which has been taken over, are anything to go by, they won't be selling for much longer.
By the way, I just looked at the last loyalty vouchers that I had through from them (which I know makes me guilty of having bought stuff there, but I'm over a barrel locally cos they're buying ALL of the garden centres!) and I see that they have an expiry date of only a few weeks, rather than being open-ended and accumulatable (is that a word?!) as they were when Podington was independent!
I hope people will continue to post to this thread; but I'm going to start another one called "better than Wyevale" and see if we can get a bit of extra business for all of the independents who are hanging on to their independence; and get us a better selection while we're at it.
All the loyalty vouchers I' ve had from Wyevale have had an expiry date on them, and quite a short period too. I was at another gc this morning and the are still stuffed full of plants. It does look more and more as if there might be problems coming up at Wyevale.
They normally have Christmas stuff appearing by now - just a big empty area at the moment.
We were at Wyevale in Northampton last weekend (the old Queen Eleanor site) and it looked as though they were dismantling everything in sight!
My guess is that they are getting ready to turn the whole chain into a gigantic Christmas shop as soon as they've finished turning it into a massive Halloween shop.
No plants necessary for any of that of course - except for the Poinsettias which they will stock right next to the doors to take full advantage of the draughts!
I must be lucky as my local wyevale is lovely, beautiful displays, plants always looked after lovely and really helpful staff. The discounted plants are really well discounted and have brought many fab bargains. Also love the cafe and food is really good. I do have a couple of local nurseries that are brilliant too so luckily I don't have to buy much online as always disappointed with most of my online buys.
my local wyevale is called worlds end and is in Wendover buckinghashire ?
We don't have Wyevale here but we do have Blue Diamond. There are a chain of Blue Diamond garden centres throughout England - about 17 mostly around the south of England but one or two further north. Does anyone on here shop at them? Each of the GC's has it's own individual name but comes under the Blue Diamond group.
Just checked them out - they are all over England from Chatsworth, Evesham, Devon, Hampshire etc. We have a branch (and headquarters) here and also in Jersey. Would love to know if anyone on here uses them. Sorry I sort of hijacked the Wyevale topic, but it is a great pity when money comes in the way of reputation and good service..
We don't have Wyevale here but we do have Blue Diamond. There are a chain of Blue Diamond garden centres throughout England - about 17 mostly around the south of England but one or two further north. Does anyone on here shop at them? Each of the GC's has it's own individual name but comes under the Blue Diamond group.
I didn't realise there were so many in the group. The one I travel to is part of the Blue Diamond group. Plant quality and price is really good and staff are helpful and knowledgeable. What really impressed me was when we arrived quite early one morning, staff weren't just watering (to be expected) but deadheading everything as they went along too. Just indicative of the level of care they give the plants.
That's good to know KT53, they are a company that have growing (!) slowly, opening their new larger GC in Gsy. about 8 years ago, they have always had their offices in Guernsey and owned by Guernsey people. Blue Diamond have been in business for many, many years and were originally involved in our tomato industry. Yes, they do really care for their plants and the quality is first class.
I've just google Blue Diamond garden centres to find the one in Essex and discovered that the independent garden centre I enthused about earlier in the thread was taken over by Blue Diamond in May! I haven't noticed any major changes yet but will be interested to see what develops.
If the one near us is anything to go by it won't deteriorate. It was a good place when it was independent but if anything it is actually better now. They certainly do stock quite a bit of non garden stuff, but there is no doubting that its predominant theme is gardening.
Posts
I agree absolutely Fairygirl. What's the point in having half a dozen garden centres within a small radius, all offering precisely the same plants? Wyevale aren't a garden centre, they're a sales robot. Though if the diminishing customer numbers at my previously favourite independent which has been taken over, are anything to go by, they won't be selling for much longer.
By the way, I just looked at the last loyalty vouchers that I had through from them (which I know makes me guilty of having bought stuff there, but I'm over a barrel locally cos they're buying ALL of the garden centres!) and I see that they have an expiry date of only a few weeks, rather than being open-ended and accumulatable (is that a word?!) as they were when Podington was independent!
I hope people will continue to post to this thread; but I'm going to start another one called "better than Wyevale" and see if we can get a bit of extra business for all of the independents who are hanging on to their independence; and get us a better selection while we're at it.
All the loyalty vouchers I' ve had from Wyevale have had an expiry date on them, and quite a short period too. I was at another gc this morning and the are still stuffed full of plants. It does look more and more as if there might be problems coming up at Wyevale.
They normally have Christmas stuff appearing by now - just a big empty area at the moment.
We were at Wyevale in Northampton last weekend (the old Queen Eleanor site) and it looked as though they were dismantling everything in sight!
My guess is that they are getting ready to turn the whole chain into a gigantic Christmas shop as soon as they've finished turning it into a massive Halloween shop.
No plants necessary for any of that of course - except for the Poinsettias which they will stock right next to the doors to take full advantage of the draughts!
I must be lucky as my local wyevale is lovely, beautiful displays, plants always looked after lovely and really helpful staff. The discounted plants are really well discounted and have brought many fab bargains. Also love the cafe and food is really good. I do have a couple of local nurseries that are brilliant too so luckily I don't have to buy much online as always disappointed with most of my online buys.
my local wyevale is called worlds end and is in Wendover buckinghashire ?
We don't have Wyevale here but we do have Blue Diamond. There are a chain of Blue Diamond garden centres throughout England - about 17 mostly around the south of England but one or two further north. Does anyone on here shop at them? Each of the GC's has it's own individual name but comes under the Blue Diamond group.
Last edited: 07 September 2016 15:57:23
Just checked them out - they are all over England from Chatsworth, Evesham, Devon, Hampshire etc. We have a branch (and headquarters) here and also in Jersey. Would love to know if anyone on here uses them. Sorry I sort of hijacked the Wyevale topic, but it is a great pity when money comes in the way of reputation and good service..
I didn't realise there were so many in the group. The one I travel to is part of the Blue Diamond group. Plant quality and price is really good and staff are helpful and knowledgeable. What really impressed me was when we arrived quite early one morning, staff weren't just watering (to be expected) but deadheading everything as they went along too. Just indicative of the level of care they give the plants.
That's good to know KT53, they are a company that have growing (!) slowly, opening their new larger GC in Gsy. about 8 years ago, they have always had their offices in Guernsey and owned by Guernsey people. Blue Diamond have been in business for many, many years and were originally involved in our tomato industry. Yes, they do really care for their plants and the quality is first class.
I've just google Blue Diamond garden centres to find the one in Essex and discovered that the independent garden centre I enthused about earlier in the thread was taken over by Blue Diamond in May! I haven't noticed any major changes yet but will be interested to see what develops.
If the one near us is anything to go by it won't deteriorate. It was a good place when it was independent but if anything it is actually better now. They certainly do stock quite a bit of non garden stuff, but there is no doubting that its predominant theme is gardening.