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winner of Yates Garden Centre of the Year 2008 was Blueskin Nurseries in Waitati,
Otago. Kaipara Coast Plant Centre in Northland was second
with Harrison’s Country Gardenworld in Feilding placed
third. All Gardening NZ retail members were eligible to enter. Palmers
Welcome Bay
Palmers
Palmerston North Harrisons
Waikanae Other awards presented on the night were given to Palmers Gardenworld,
Welcome Bay, Tauranga for Best Signage; Harrison’s Country Gardenworld, Waikanae
and Harrison’s Country Gardenworld, Feilding for Best Green Life; Kaipara
Coast Plant Centre for Best Solutions; Maree Matthews at Harrison’s Country
Gardenworld, Feilding, won the Happiest Staff Member. The
national awards took a break from 2005, but were revamped this year to ensure
the competition better promotes quality, innovation and excellent customer service.
Gardening NZ, Chief Executive Allan Criglington says ‘the awards saw all
entrants receive two visits from mystery shoppers. They rated garden retailers
on criteria, including staff knowledge and selling skills, customer service, merchandising,
plant health, store and staff appearance, and adherence to health and safety standards.
The top 10 scoring garden centres were then visited independently by an experienced
garden retail judge, again as a mystery shopper, to determine the winners. Fairfields
Kaipara Coast Plant
Centre Charlie Gray, Yates NZ Ltd said ‘gardening was popular among
New Zealanders and it was important to foster excellence within the gardening
industry. Yates has been supporting the Garden Centre of the Year for over 10
years now and it is an important part of its overall marketing programme. The
purchase decisions required for many gardening products are more involved than
for basic self help staples and require a customer service skill set to assist
gardeners in making the right choice. The Garden Centre of the Year programme
gives garden retailers the opportunity to have these skills assessed by independent
mystery shoppers and as a result improve the service to gardeners so that gardening
can compete favorably with other leisure activities where customer service is
part of the overall mix in having a satisfactory experience. In addition the awards
give the opportunity to those who excel to be recognized by both their peers in
the industry and by New Zealand's gardeners’.
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