North One Garden Centre
www.n1gc.co.uk
Visited on September 8, 2009
Introduction: Shortly before we left for England, we made early morning phone calls to garden centres in the London area to obtain directions and decide which garden centres would be convenient for us to visit. We wanted to use our Brit-Rail pass so over-ground rail and walking distance from the rail stations to the centres was important. On our train trip back to Manchester from Kew Gardens on Monday, Dave recognized a rail line that we could travel to reach Camden Garden Centre and North One Garden Centre, which were on our London list.
Background
- Location – North One Garden Centre is located at 25 Englefield Road in the London Borough of Hackney.
- Transportation – North One Garden Centre was our second London centre to visit on our Tuesday day trip. From the Dalston Kingsland rail station, it was a ten minute walk to the centre.
- History – The North One Garden Centre, an independent centre, was established in 1998 by Beryl Henderson. Beryl wanted to create the garden centre that she would want to go to, with excellent customer service and high quality plants reasonably priced. She had carried out this vision by selecting staff that had passion for gardening, as well as knowledge, intelligence and artistic creativity.
North One Garden Centre was awarded Garden Centre of the Year 2007, by the Horticulture Trade Magazine, in recognition of the innovative use of a small space. The business placed 17th in the February 2009 edition of the Independent Magazine “50 Best Garden Centres in the Country.”
- Marketing – North One Garden Center advertised and tagged plants that were British grown, thereby acclimated to the local climate. They emphasized that buying from nearby growers would support the local economy. A seasonal news letter was available in the centre as well as on their website. North One Garden Center target audience was the younger gardeners. They estimated that 70-75% of their customers were under the age of 30. The merchandise they sold was scaled for the small homes and yards of the urban gardener.
- Service – At North One Garden Centre a delivery service was provided. A Design and Maintenance Service was available which provided Garden Services from clearing to planting to garden design and construction. See North One Garden Centre website for more information regarding the personalized Design and Maintenance Service.
Facility
- Structure – North One Garden Centre was located in a mixed use area of light industry and commercial businesses. The small brick building was a Button Factory during WWII with a stable yard next to it. The two areas were combined and rehabbed by Beryl Henderson. The stable yard became the planteria and the button factory, the garden shop. The property is small, 425 square meters, or 1/10th of an acre. The Button Factory reputation continues on as part of the garden centres identification.
- Access – North One Garden Centre was easily accessible by car and bus. Parking was on the street as there is no parking lot in this commercial area. The interior isles were wide enough for shopping carts and wheel chairs. This was a small centre and it appeared that no space was wasted for isles wider then necessary. There was no public washroom.
- Appearance – As I approached North One Garden Centre, I could see racks of plants on the sidewalk at either side of the front entrance, an urban way to use all space possible. These plants were organized and attractive. On either side of the walkway to the front door, benches were loaded with displays of plants. The entrance sign above the doorway, giving an old time aura, blended with the faded brick of the building. Inside the garden shop was free of clutter, every piece of merchandise in a specific place. The planteria was tidy. All hoses, buckets and watering cans were tucked neatly out of pathways in a corner.
- Environment – Bright colored blues and mauves of Weatherprint art work for sale hung on the brick interior walls painted white, and light stained hardwood flooring, opened up the interior of garden shop. The music of choice at the time of our visit was classical.
- Signage
- Interior Signs – In the planteria there were large, prominent signs with the garden centre logo. Plant identification signs on the benches for the indoor plants showed the plant in bloom, and gave care, watering and pruning information.
- Exterior Signs – As we approached North One Garden Centre, their sign was visible, on high fencing a good half a block away. Closer we could see an attractive sign with a sculptured potted plant displayed above the fencing, serving as the centre’s logo. A prominent sign with their logo stated “plants grown in England by specialist growers.” The groupings of out door plants were well identified with large signs such as “Shrubs For Shade.” The “Soil Shed” could not be missed with its large sign above the entrance.
- Displays
- Interior Displays – North One Garden Centre made use of their benches by turning them into their own display to give gardeners the inspiration of what they can grow. By artistically working with
COLORS, SHAPE AND FOLIAGE,
Beryl indicated this sublimely tells the customer what they need. The displays on the benches were changed weekly.
- Exterior Displays – The exterior displays were benches used as mini gardens also. The concept of color, shape, and foliage was also used in the outdoor plantings. An example of this was the bright colors of blooming scarlet and yellow perennials were mingled with the various shades of green to purple leafed and variegated foliage plants, with the purple red spikes of the
PHORMIUM ABOVE.
Plants
- Outdoor Plants – North One Garden Centre was limited in physical space so they purchased in small orders several different varieties of a species to give the customer more choices. They will order additional plants for customers.
It is important to North One Garden Centre to obtain plants from small specialist growers in the area to support the local economy and reduce carbon footprints. The ferns, grasses and shrubs were their major purchases from the specialist growers. Marking these plants as such indicated that they were ideal for local planting. An example of this were
evergreen shrubs marked, “Grown in Hertsfordshire.” The London weather is warmer then in the northern areas, so they did sell plants that are suitable in a sheltered spot for outdoor gardens in London, such as Olive trees, that would be an indoor or conservatory plants further north.
The flowering out door plants and dwarf fruit trees that North One Garden Centre stock are always displayed in bloom. Customers would be more inclined to purchase flowering plants and fruit trees with ripe fruit. I saw apple, Kiwi, and fig trees for sale. Strawberry plants and blueberry bushes were also available. Plants were tagged with care instructions for soil needs, planting, watering and pruning.
They carried a selection of bulbs for fall planting and advertised the shorter stemmed varieties of spring flowers suitable for pots and window boxes for the urban area. They also carried woodland collections for shady spots.
- Indoor Plants – The unusual and exotic tropical plants such as The Venus Flytrap and Bird of paradise flower were on the shelves with scarlet Bougainvillea, Orchids, Anthurium, Bromliads, Kentia Palm, and Gardenia. The conservatory miniature orange and lemon trees were loaded with colorful fruits. The garden shop had many household
TROPICAL PLANTS
in stylish pots ready to take home and display.
- Warranty – North One Garden Centre provided a 2 year replacement guarantee on hardy plants at the time of our visit.
- Quality of Plants – The indoor and outdoor plants at North One Garden Centre were of excellent quality. Many of the plants on the racks on the sidewalk were on sale and they were in healthy condition.
Merchandise
- Gifts – North One Garden Centre did not have a gift shop per se but they did have attractive quality items on their display shelves for home decorations. With limited space, they have to be selective. They stated that they pay attention to current as well as up and coming trends, to provide imaginative displays. They did have a selection of gift cards, candles, plant magazines, and bird products. North One Garden Centre stated that much of their seasonal accessories were imported from Holland.
- Food – North One Garden Centre does not have a restaurant.
- Seasonal – At the time of our visit, there was a Halloween display inside. Check their web site or stop by the centre to see seasonal displays created by one of their artistic employees.
- Clothing – North One Garden Centre did not sell clothing as plants were their focus.
- Furniture – North One Garden Centre had a small selection of contemporary furniture suitable for the cities small garden and balcony areas. Several of the furniture styles that they carried were fold ups for convenience of storage and traveling.
- Stoneware – North One Garden Centre had indoor pottery contemporary in color and design. In their August newsletter they were forecasting the new colors and textures for the next year. The clay and ceramic pottery for outdoor uses was sized on a smaller scale, then your larger centers, as North One Garden Centre was servicing small urban gardens and spaces of London.
- Gardening – North One Garden Centre had a storage area called the “Soil Shed” for soils and misc. garden items. Bagged Blended Farm Manure was carried. Garden tools and necessary garden supplies for the urban gardener were available. Thompson & Morgan organic vegetable and flower seeds and Franchi Seeds from Italy were on the racks in the Garden Shop.
- Aquatics – North One Garden Centre did not carry aquatic plants at the time of our visit.
- Structures – This garden centre did not carry garden sheds or greenhouses at the time of our visit.
- Landscaping/Hardscaping – They did have a small selection of trellis materials available. With limited space, large hardscaping and landscaping products that you would find in the larger centers were not carried. They did have small garden statutes.
Ecology