Comment
Glee-full time at the NEC
W
hat a wonderful time we had at Glee! The show certainly lived up to its name this year. Aisles full of happy buyers with money to spend and exhibitors with hordes of new products for them to order. A Glee-full time appeared to be had by all. The GTN team certainly had a great Glee. The New Product Showcase and Awards had an amazing number of innovative new products that will undoubtedly ring through garden centre tills in 2022. Our readers, on-line, voted in their hundreds for the winners of the Glee Buyers Power List and what a worthy list of winners they were! And we capped it all with Floral Thursday for Greenfingers where more exhibitors and visitors then ever got involved in the FUNdraising for the charity that creates magical gardens at Children’s Hospices. All reported twice a day throughout the show by the GTN team in Glee Daily News. In this issue we attempt to give a flavour of Glee 2021 and all the happiness those who made the journey to the NEC experienced. Wasn’t it just so
In this issue...
1 6 10 14
Vitax increases range and capacity Remembering Eddie Topping MBE Capturing the essence of Autumn at Chelsea Get Grilling with Traeger
Glee 2021 19 Glee 2021 – a special return 20 Glee Buyers Power List 22 Glee New Product Awards 26 Sustainability Award – Southern Trident
www.gardentradenews.co.uk
good to be able to see people and products for real after 18 months of Zoom! In November’s issue of GTN we’ll be publishing a full directory of the products entered into the Glee New Products Showcase and Awards, so you’ll be able to make sure you haven’t missed any opportunities to buy products that could be swelling turnover next year. And now, post Glee we turn our thoughts to Christmas which has seen a slower start than the previous few years due to a mix of later Christmas openings, stock still not arriving and latterly the petrol shortages. If that is the effect of panic buying caused by the media, should we start a rumour to get panic buying of pots and pot feet? In the background we’re working out how to run The Greatest Christmas Awards for 2021. Several of you have already expressed your interest to enter and be judged. Watch this space and look out for announcements in GTN Xtra over the coming weeks. I can feel a ho, ho, ho coming on… See you again soon!
EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING Garden Trade News Potting Shed Press Ltd Dairy Drove Thorney Peterborough PE6 0TX Tel 01733 775700 www.gardentradenews.co.uk THE GTN TEAM Editor Trevor Pfeiffer trevor@pottingshedpress.co.uk Advertising Sales Alan Burdon Alan@pottingshedpress.co.uk Associate Editor Mike Wyatt mike@pottingshedpress.co.uk Digital Editor Neil Pope neil@pottingshedpress.co.uk Subscriptions Karen Pfeiffer karen@pottingshedpress.co.uk Design & Production AT Graphics Ltd www.atgraphicsuk.com Kirsty Craner – Design Alun Jones – Production Manager Robert Tipping – Managing Director James Tipping – Technical Director Printing CG Print Ltd Do you qualify for a copy of GTN?
If you’d like to be added to the GTN distribution list, please send your details to Karen@pottingshedpress.co.uk to see if you qualify to be included. Alternatively, if you prefer your Garden Trade News digitally, sign up for GTN Xtra, our weekly e-mail newsetter at www.gardentradenews.co.uk And, if you want the fastest garden centre sales analysis, take out a subscription to GTN Bestsellers our printed weekly sales data newsletter. For just £145.00 per year you get Top 50 sales charts created from weekly garden centre epos data. Contact trevor@ pottingshedpress.co.uk for more details and to subscribe.
Potting Shed Press Ltd
28 Glee 2021 Gallery 34 Floral Thursday 36 GTN Bestsellers Subscription Offer 37 GTN Bestsellers – September garden centre sales analysis and charts 43 Garden Centre Books 44 HTA Column – Tales of the unexpected 45 GIMA Column – The future is looking bright
Garden Trade News is published by Potting Shed Press Ltd who also publish: GTN Bestsellers, GTN Xtra, Glee Daily News and the Glee Catalogue, and the Solex Sun. Potting Shed Press also supply Garden Radio to over 100 garden centres across the country.
Director Trevor Pfeiffer
SMALL PRINT: All material © Potting Shed Press Ltd 2021. No part of this publication may e reproduced in any form whatsoever, either for sale or not, without the express permission of the publishers. The information supplied in this publication is published in good faith and every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy. Potting Shed Press Ltd cannot accept responsibility for any error or misrepresentation. All liability for loss, disappointment, negligence or other damage caused by reliance on information contained in this publication or in the vent of any bankruptcy or liquidation or cassation of the trade of any company, individual or firm mentioned, is hereby excluded.
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