Squire’s Stanmore Receives Top Accolades at GCA Regional Awards
Industry leading body, the Garden Centre Association (GCA), has presented Squire’s Garden Centres with top accolades in their Regional Awards with Squire’s Stanmore awarded joint first place in the ‘Outdoor Living Award’ (Garden Centre Category) in the North Thames Region.
Squire’s Stanmore received 4 awards in total. In addition to their joint first place win in the ‘Outdoor Living Award’, they received The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Garden Centre Category) – 2nd place; The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre – 2nd place and Garden Centre of the Year – 3rd place.
Sarah Squire, Chairman of Squire’s Garden Centres, comments: “I am delighted for our centre teams and all they have achieved in the GCAs, with an amazing 10 awards presented to our centres this year. These industry accolades are testament to the teams’ hard work and dedication, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our centres for their commitment to ensure we maintain such high standards in presentation and customer service. The GCA inspections encourage members to aspire to be the very best in the industry.”
The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres across the UK. The GCA asks its garden centre members to meet the highest retail standards and to take part in an annual inspection process, to ensure these standards are maintained and improved. At the centre of its activities is the garden centre customer experience. The GCA runs a pioneering e-learning training programme for garden centre staff offering over 100 courses, covering topics on product knowledge, plant care and customer service and have been accessed by 10,000 members with in GCA centres.
Gordon Emslie, of the GCA, comments on Squire’s Stanmore first place award for ‘Outdoor Living Award’: “The overall garden furniture offer is extremely strong & professionally presented in a very compact area. The team have been very creative with the BBQ display by using a raised platform to give a patio effect which is something a little different. Overall, the visual merchandising was very clever and created a strong impact for customers.”
