Tesco-owned garden centre chain Dobbies is to unveil a new model store next week as part of ambitious plans to quadruple its number of shops to 100 over the next 10 years.
Dobbies will open its £11.6m, 47,000 sq ft garden centre in Aberdeen on March 5. The new design aims to replace the old-fashioned image of garden centres with a modern, environmentally friendly store.
The new look marks a step-up in investment by Tesco, which has taken a low-key involvement since buying the 25-store chain for £155.6m in 2007 after a drawn-out battle with previous backer, entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter. The retailer wants to increase its store numbers to 100 in the next decade, and Dobbies will work more closely with its parent company going forward.
Dobbies chief executive James Barnes said: “The Aberdeen store is a concept for a new generation of garden centres in the UK and the benchmark from which the company will launch all future stores.”
The Aberdeen Dobbies Garden World claims to be the most environmentally friendly garden centre in Scotland. It includes a farm foodhall, which sells locally sourced produce, health and beauty products based on natural ingredients, related books and CDs, as well as plants and gardening equipment.
Tesco will further strengthen its links with Dobbies with co-located stores. It is expected that the site of the first joint Tesco-Dobbies store will be revealed later this year.
In addition, Tesco will stock Dobbies-branded compost in its larger shops in Scotland and northern England this spring.
Barnes said the initiative is part of a wider strategy to roll out a range of products - including plants and tools - into Tesco later this year.
“It will be a first,” said Barnes. “It is leveraging the Dobbies brand through Tesco. It gives us bigger exposure south of the border, which is new territory for us.”
The Aberdeen store, created by Edge Architecture + Design, has been designed with a natural feel in an attempt to link indoor and outdoor areas. Other elements include a rose demonstration garden and aquatics department.
Environmental elements in the centre include a biomass boiler, water recycling, bore hole, and an intelligent control system that changes temperatures and lighting to suit different conditions.
Barnes said all future stores “will be built with timber frames and have renewable energy systems”. He added that Dobbies’ “future vision” is “to create stores that are entirely carbon neutral”.
Dobbies reported like-for-likes up 5.8% in the five weeks to January 3. Online sales jumped 22%.
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