Blackbrooks Garden Centre

First Franchise have recently completed the letting of two retail units at Blackbrooks Garden Centre, near Hastings in Sussex.  Cotton Traders and Roman Originals have opened new stores from within the garden centre after the site owner Mark Winchester identified c2200sqft which could be let to suitable trading partners.

 Mark Winchester took Blackbrooks Garden Centre over from his father in 2011 and immediately made changes to the retail focus of the site and invested in a brand new restaurant.  The new and improved catering immediately had a positive impact on the sales of the garden centre, so the changes continued as Mark identified an area that was being used for the garden centres pets department as potential concession space.

 The pets department was relocated to another area within the garden centre to increase its size and the prominent, vacant area was facing onto the car park and visible from the main road that runs past the site.

 Working with First Franchise, Mark identified a demand in the area for additional clothing ranges and Cotton Traders and Roman Originals were identified as an ideal fit for the customer base.  The regularly changing, fashion orientated ranges from Roman Originals, ideally complement the traditional leisure wear of Cotton Traders.  Another benefit for the garden centre was that they can continue stocking their own bought outdoor clothing thus creating a department for all styles, budgets and requirements.

 Commenting on the new additions Mark said “We are pleased to welcome such established retailers to the site and we have already experienced good feedback from the customers.  As the improvements to the garden centre start to gather momentum we wanted to work with concessions which not only add to the overall garden centre offer but also contribute to the marketing and development of the site.”

 First Franchise’s Richard Lewis “The demographics of the garden centre were perfectly suited for a clothing presence.  Due to the ongoing development and improvements to the garden centre we needed to introduce retailers who fit with the strategy of the garden centre and would implement a quality fit which reflects the garden centres standards.”

 For more information on how you can introduce complementary retailers to your garden centre contact First Franchise today, 01737 735041 or email info@firstfranchise.com .