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In today’s experience-led garden retail world, centres are designing environments that invite customers to wander, linger and explore. For years the focus has been on indoor environments, but increasingly forward-thinking centres are exploring how to create year-round outdoor spaces too…
Across the UK, forward-thinking garden centres are investing in high quality, all-weather plant display canopies that transform outdoor plant areas into welcoming, retail spaces that retain the feeling of the outdoors with the protection of being indoors. The result? A better customer experience, stronger year-round trading and a site that works harder in every season.
One of the most eye-catching recent examples of this approach can be found at Haskins West End Garden Centre near Southampton. The centre came to us wanting to drive more footfall into their outdoor plant area with a striking architectural solution. We responded with an innovative horseshoe-shaped canopy that now frames the entire outdoor plant area, encouraging wide exploration of the area, year-round.
Delivered as a turnkey project covering groundworks, irrigation, manufacture and installation the 13-metre wide, 101-metre-long curved structure gently guides customers through plant and garden accessory displays while shielding them from the elements. Since opening, this standout architectural feature has become one of the centre’s most popular areas and is already acting as a powerful driver of footfall in all weathers.
A large new twin span plant display canopy recently installed by our team at Glendoick Garden Centre, near Perth, has helped create a similar seamless transition between indoor retail and outdoor plant sales whatever the weather is doing. The beautiful barrel-vaulted structures encourage visitors to move naturally around the centre undeterred by rain, wind or harsh sun and create valuable new seasonal display space.
For garden centres looking to make the most of their outdoors, the message is clear: when plant display areas become comfortable year-round browsing destinations, customers stay longer, explore more and return more. If you’re thinking of enhancing your outdoor spaces or are looking to upgrade an under-used area of your site, get in touch today. Our expert team would love to help you explore what’s possible.
