Wyevale: Charting a course for growth

Harry Williamson, the father-in-law of the current chairman Brian Evans, pioneered the garden centre concept when he opened what was probably the UK’s first garden centre on the site of the company’s present head office in Hereford in 1961. He called it Wyevale. The idea for the centre came to him on a visit to the USA, where he had seen a variety of such centres.
Wyevale has succeeded in maintaining its position as the leading light in the UK garden centre sector.
Wyevale has succeeded in maintaining its position as the initiator and leading light in the UK garden centre sector. Following the opening of a second branch in 1967, Wyevale expanded at a rapid pace during the 1970s and 1980s. By the time the company decided on stock market flotation in 1987, it was already the largest group in the UK with 14 garden centres. Thanks to a number of acquisitions, Wyevale has grown quickly and its increasing market power has enabled it to become established as a national garden centre operator. In 1991 it acquired Cramphorn, a group comprising 15 garden centres. This was followed in 1996 by the acquisition of the Jackswood group with five outlets and the takeover in 1998 of Great Gardens with three centres and Kennedy with 13 outlets. The takeover in 2000 of Country Gardens, the second largest garden centre operator in the UK, brought the number of centres operated by Wyevale to 120. In October 2001 Wyevale acquired Fosters Garden Centres comprising two centres based in Bradley and Shenstone. Although bringing the new centres into line with the existing company concept was not always easy in the initial phase, this has not done anything to diminish Wyevale’s constant drive for expansion.
Magnificent pond layouts are an established feature of Wyevale.
In May, the company announced the takeover of Auldene Garden Centre in Ulnes Walton and the acquisition of a site at Crowland, on which the group’s largest centre to date, with a retail area of 6140 m², is to open in the autumn. The new centre is expected to be a flagship for Wyevale and will include a restaurant, pets, an impressive giftware boutique and the largest range of garden furniture in the region. Wyevale will thus increase its total number of garden centres to 123, with a covered retail space of almost 275.000 square meters and outdoor area of almost 428.000 square meters. Wyevale’s sales, which attained a volume of 268 mio euro last year, should also increase significantly this year.
Pets help to create a…