Members of the Garden Centre Group, as well as a number of invited guests, met at the International Plaza Hotel earlier this year to determine issues of current concern to the independent retail garden centre sector. As expected, the list was a long one, but a number of issues were quickly identified as being a priority. The objective of the meeting was to determine the role of Landscape Ontario in helping this important sector of the industry to deal with some of these concerns.
One of the top priorities of the group was to establish a better relationship with the Growers Group and to discuss promotional items and/or strategies that would be unique to the independent retail sector. Making use of new technologies to develop effective and cost-effective promotional strategies, such as an on-line consumer newsletter was also seen as an important initiative. Better communication with garden communicators and an annual educational venue, geared specifically to this sector of the industry are two further mandates of importance to this group. The initial development of all of these projects by Landscape Ontario staff will be on-going through the spring and summer months.
For more details or to participate in the initiatives of the Garden Centre Group, call Rita at the Landscape Ontario office at 905-875-1805, ext. 311 or e-mail ritaw@landscapeontario.com
