A new garden shop has opened its doors to the public at the West End Garden Centre.
And the purpose-built premises is just one part of a stunning transformation at the popular gardeners’ haven in Partick.
The outside display area has increased by a third and garden furniture is now on sale.
Owner Martin McCarron says the addition of a shop changes everything for the business.
Martin said: “With the new shop, we think we have an all-round, proper garden centre.
“We’ve got everything that a garden centre should have: indoor plants, pots, feeds, weeders and a bigger selection of outdoor plants.
'Proper destination'
“It’s a proper destination now as opposed to what could have been perceived as a pop-up.
“We’d like to think that there is even more reason for people to come and see what we have.”
The garden centre set up at a corner site at West of Scotland Cricket Ground on Peel Street in May 2019.
West End gardeners have welcomed a local centre on their doorstep, selling the kind of plants and homeware that work for them.
But the new shop will only increase the range of products and allow Martin and his team to sell items that they didn’t have room for before.
Increase
Garden furniture is one of the lines now featuring, along with more ornamental pots.
An electronic swipe board allows customers to browse a wider selection of outside seats, chairs, tables and awnings.
Martin said: “The furniture is a totally new departure.
“People are using their gardens like another room and we want to help them realise how they can make the best use of their spaces.
“The idea is to inspire people. That’s why we have brought a little bit of art into the space here.
“It’s about giving people fresh ideas about what they can do with their gardens.”
The simple idea is to give people something different and a range of products that they wouldn’t necessarily see in other centres.
Martin said: “We think we have products that people wouldn’t really find in other garden centres.
“That’s the plan for our range inside and outside, and particularly in our range of pots.
We’ve got everything that a garden centre should have: indoor plants, pots, feeds, weeders and a bigger selection of outdoor plants.
Martin McCarron
“We are trying to stock unusual stuff that people wouldn’t normally come across.
“We are trying to be different in all aspects of the business.
“We want to develop our market and give people unusual and quality products.”
Customers will increasingly see own-brand labels on all plants and products from now.
And outside displays have been customised over recent months to add to the visitor experience.
Martin has exciting plans for the centre going forward.
Coffees and drinks will be on offer from this week, but he would like to extend that side of the business over time.
“People will see that we've done a lot of our own branded plants as well.
“Instead of relying on growers’ labels to describe and explain a plant, we are doing our own labels to give customers the information they need.
"Our labels will have much better information on the back.
“We want to talk to the customer through all our messaging whether it’s the website or the labels.
'Own-brand'
“I just want this to be an experience of a garden centre that no one's has ever before.”
Martin wants the garden centre to at the heart of the community and to work with local charities and organisations.
He said: “We want the centre to represent more than just a place to buy plants we hope it means more than that.
“I don’t want people to feel that they are just walking into another garden centre.”
