Peas next to Petunias, this is what we can expect in future garden centre. Well, they may not be located on same shelf, but they could be located in same building.

In recent years, one of fastest growing retail sectors has been farmers market. This growth has been stimulated by consumers desire to buy healthy produce from as near source as possible, rather than from supermarket. Supermarkets have and are losing market share to retailers who are using fresh produce to provide a retail experience.

One of earliest innovators of this trend was Stew Leonard, who opened his world famous store in Daneville, Connecticut over twenty years ago.

This style of produce retailing has proliferated and similar stores can now be found around Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and USA. But, what does this have to do with garden centres?

The big “box” stores have become a firm part of retail landscape, although there are still major growth opportunities for them in some regions, such as Middle East. But overall they are a part of most consumers’ lives. They had a major impact on independent retailers and result is that many of independents have simply disappeared. However, survivors are starting to make an impact again in retail environment.

What have survivors learnt? Surviving independent retailers have discovered that playing safe is worst thing they can do. Playing safe means doing same thing as last year with hope they will be just as successful. In today’s retail jungle, playing safe is a recipe for failure. Successful retailers realise that they have to play unsafe to gain market share. Taking risks is part of their everyday strategy and an acceptance that all risks will not be a success is also part of that strategy. To illustrate where I am coming from lets look at some unsafe businesses.

Mid Ulster lead way Mid Ulster Garden Centre in Northern Ireland, had a indoor houseplant department like those you will see in many parts of world. Jim Bradley, owner, had started to consider house plants a waste of time, since it was not bringing in return per square yard/metre he was expecting from his profitable business. It was time to play unsafe or get out of category. Along with Jim, we analysed what category was all about, safe thinking said “indoor plants”. Unsafe thinking said he was in “living gifts, living art and living rooms”. This meant rethinking whole category and playing unsafe, by re-merchandising whole area. This included introducing fashion statements, table lamps and gifts. Safe thinkers may be concerned about how plants would be watered, but when you play unsafe you start thinking about ways to overcome such perceived problems.