Three in one

"The most attractive garden centre in Europe," enthuses Ben Boon, the sales manager for greenhouse builders Thermoflor, when speaking about the new Intratuin outlet. Apart from its size and architectural design, the concept of proprietor Andre Nusselder's store is something rather special. The combination of a DIY store (Gamma) and garden centre complete with pet department (Intratuin) is unprecedented in the Dutch DIY and garden market. The mall has an effective area of 50 000 m² in total. Of this, the garden centre occupies 19 000 m² spread over two floors and the DIY store has over 5 000 m². Andre Nusselder intends to lease out the remaining 8500 m² above the DIY store to retailers specialising for example in kitchens, bathrooms, lighting or floor coverings. The architecture of the shopping mall betrays the ambitious nature of the project at first glance: the central "plaza" entrance hall, covering 1 200 m², is laid out in the style of a boulevard that divides the garden centre from the DIY store. Green-coated curved steel trusses create a vault 15 m high and lend the structure the character and charm of a Victorian glass house. Old olive trees and cork oaks further enhance the ambience of the central plaza. To reach the garden centre entrance, customers must first cross the plaza with its café and flower shop. Once inside the garden centre, the signposted route is designed to take shoppers through every department in the store on their way to the tills, according to Andre Nusselder's plan. The areas featuring timber in the garden and garden building materials are followed by the plant area, with an outdoor section for the tree nursery and perennials and a 2 000 m² garden greenhouse. Here Thermoflor has implemented a development of its Open Sky greenhouse, which enables the roof to be completely opened. The temperate area comes next, together with garden equipment, and then the 700 m² pet department. The full range incorporating live animals is virtually a universal standard in the Intratuin concept. In Duiven, the pet department boasts an aquarium wall, coldwater tanks and tanks for plants as well as a large section devoted to small animals and birds. The department accounts for roughly five per cent of overall sales and is regarded as a magnet for attracting visitors to the garden centre as a whole. Further departments in the store feature clothing, decorative articles, tableware and bathroom requisites along with glass, ceramics, china, table linen…