![]() | |
Wyevale and Blooms of Bressingham | |
Industry | Garden centres |
Founded | 1960 |
Defunct | 2019 |
Wyevale Garden Centres (formerly The Garden Centre Group) was a British chain of garden centres.
It was the largest garden centre operator in the United Kingdom, with 154 locations following its acquisition of the Blooms of Bressingham chain in February 2007. [1] It had acquired many smaller garden centre locations prior to this, which also helped to allow it to reach its peak.
Following Wyevale’s financial difficulties, Dobbies Garden Centres acquired the vast majority of Wyevale locations in 2018. Any remaining locations were sold to Blue Diamond Garden Centres, independent owners and smaller chains, with the final outlets sold and converted to British Garden Centres in 2019. [2]
In September 2023, the final holding company of Wyevale was dissolved, with no entity acquiring the Wyevale brand or intellectual property. [3]
The company started as a mail-order nursery operated by the Williamson family in the 1930s in Hereford and in 1967 opened the first Wyevale Garden Centre on Kings Acre Road. It became a public limited company (PLC) in 1987, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In the 1990s, the chain purchased the Kennedy's Garden Centres, [4] and Cramphorn Garden Centre chains [5] and transformed all outlets into Wyevale.
In 2007, Blooms of Bressingham was purchased by Wyevale, Blooms had previously acquired the Jardiniere Garden Centre chain. [6]
In February 2009, following the collapse of the Icelandic investment company Baugur Group who had a large stake in the firm, the Bank of Scotland became the majority owner of the firm in a debt-for-equity deal. [7] In 2009, the name was changed to The Garden Centre Group. [8]
The company was bought by private equity firm Terra Firma in March 2012. [9]
On 17 July 2014, the company announced it would be rebranding to Wyevale Garden Centres. [10]
In May 2018, the company announced that its investors (Terra Firma) had decided to put it up for sale as a complete business or for its individual garden centres. [11]
On 16 August 2018, Wyevale sold eight of its largest garden centres to Blue Diamond Garden Centres, including Bicester, Oxfordshire; Endsleigh, Devon; Sanders, Burnham-on-sea; Cadbury, Bristol; Cardiff, Wales; Percy Thrower, Shrewsbury; Melbicks, Birmingham; and Weybridge, Surrey. [12]
On 30 August 2018, Wyevale announced the sale of five garden centres to individual buyers, including Nailsworth Garden Centre which was sold to Blue Diamond Garden Centres. [13] A further four centres were sold to individual buyers on 4 September 2018 [14] Dobbies Garden Centres, headquartered in Scotland, agreed to purchase a portfolio of five Wyevale Garden Centres sites in England on 8 October. [15]
On 21 May 2019, Wyevale announced the sale of two garden centres to Blackbrooks Garden Centres. The sale consisted of their Lower Dicker & Hastings stores. [16] In the same month, Dobbies purchased 37 Wyevale locations, doubling their reach and becoming the largest garden centre company in the UK.
On 10 September 2019, the business announced the sale of its remaining centres to British Garden Centres, leading to the closure of the historic Wyevale Garden Centres brand. [17]
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 14,302 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Japan, China, and Indonesia. The company operates its corporate stores mainly under the Couche-Tard, Circle K, and On the Run brands but also under the affiliated brands Mac's Convenience Stores, go!, 7-jours, Dairy/Daisy Mart, Becker's and Winks.
Sobeys Inc. is a national supermarket chain in Canada with over 1,500 stores operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than C$25.1 billion in the fiscal 2019 operating year. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited, a Canadian business conglomerate.
Circle K Stores, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores that is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc., based in Laval, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1990 and went through several owners, before being acquired by Alimentation Couche-Tard in 2003. As of February 2020, Circle K has 9,799 stores in North America, 2,697 stores in Europe, and an additional 2,380 stores operating under franchise agreements worldwide.
Woolworths Group Limited is an Australian multinational retail and finance company, primarily known for the operation of its retail chain Woolworths Supermarkets across Australia, Woolworths in New Zealand and its discount department store Big W. Headquartered in Bella Vista, Sydney, it is the largest company in Australia by revenue and number of employees, and the second-largest in New Zealand.
Guy Hands is an English financier and investor. He is most notable as the founder and former chairman of Terra Firma Capital Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Europe. Hands also served as chairman of the UK music company EMI.
A garden centre is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business.
Somerfield (;) was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The business started life in the 19th century as grocers J. H. Mills, and after a series of buyouts and mergers, the company became known as Gateway. A major rebranding to the created Somerfield brand started in 1990, and in 1998 the company purchased the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by the Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth-largest food retailer. The Somerfield name was replaced by the Co-operative brand in a rolling programme of store conversions ending in summer 2011.
Odeon Cinemas Limited, trading as Odeon, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of the Odeon cinema circuit first introduced in Great Britain in 1930. As of 2016, Odeon is the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share.
Phoenix Natural Gas is the largest gas distribution business in Northern Ireland, being the owner and operator of the licence for the distribution network in the Greater Belfast area. The distribution business is responsible for the development of the pipeline network and also for providing a 24/7 operational and transportation service platform to suppliers under the rules of the company's network code. The ongoing investment within the Phoenix Natural Gas licence area does not attract any grant or support from local or UK government. The investment is a standalone private venture.
Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. (TFCP) is a UK-based private equity firm. Financier Guy Hands founded the firm in 2002 through the spin-off of Nomura Principal Finance Group. The firm, which traces its roots to the formation of its predecessor in 1994, has invested over €14 billion since inception.
First Quench Retailing was the largest independent off-licence retail chain in the UK, with around 3,500 shops operating under several retail brands, though all have now been closed. At the time of First Quench's closure, these included the Threshers, Haddows, The Local and Wine Rack chains.
Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of liquor through its Coles Liquor outlets. Since its foundation in Collingwood, Victoria in 1914, Coles has grown to become the second-largest retailer in Australia after its principal rival, Woolworths, in terms of revenue.
Dobbies Garden Centres Limited is a British chain of garden centres based in Lasswade, Scotland. It is the biggest garden centre operator in the United Kingdom, operating over 77 stores, some of which it acquired from the previous biggest garden centre chain, Wyevale.
Alan Herbert Vauser Bloom was a British horticulturist and steam engine enthusiast. During his life he created over 170 new varieties of hardy perennial plants. These and Alpine plants and conifers were his specialities. He invented the garden feature of freestanding island beds, set in open lawn. He wrote some 30 books and appeared on radio and television.
Principal Hotel Company is a British hotel and conference venue operator headquartered in Harrogate, England.
Glentel Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications retailer based in Burnaby, British Columbia, jointly owned by BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications.
Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) or simply Ansett Worldwide was one of the world's largest commercial jet aircraft leasing companies. Its head office was located in Dublin, Ireland, and it had offices in Miami, New York City, and Singapore.
Dawsons Music & Sound, often referred to as Dawsons or Dawsons Music, was a musical instrument and consumer audio retailer with headquarters based in Haydock, Merseyside, UK.
Keepmoat Homes Ltd is a housebuilding company in the United Kingdom that provides private homes for sale. Its headquarters are in Doncaster.
British Garden Centres, is a British chain of garden centres based in Alford, Lincolnshire, England. By 2022, it operated over sixty locations. It is the second largest operator of garden centres in the UK, after Dobbies.