8 minute read
Coming up roses for 85 years
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RETAIL Bents Garden & Home
Coming Up Roses for 85 Years
Bents Garden & Home has built business success by combining its proud history and heritage with innovation in all departments. Sarah Welsh spoke to chief executive Matthew Bent, as this leading independent looks ahead to its 85th anniversary year…
Bents Garden & Home has come a long way since pioneering couple Alfred and Margaret Bent launched what would expand to become a cherished family business, by growing and selling roses in the front garden of their terraced home.
Some eight-and-a-half decades on, Bents is now led by the third generation of Bents, Alfred and Margaret’s grandchildren – including current chief executive Matthew – with their great-grandchildren also invested in the hugely successful independent garden centre brand. Not only that but it sits just yards from where it all began in Glazebury, Warrington. Here Matthew lets us in on all things Christmas – past, present, and future – at Bents Bents celebrates its 85th anniversary this year. What celebration plans are there currently, and will this form part of your Christmas shop 2022?
Yes, 2022 marks this important anniversary for us. Plans are currently being put in place to mark the occasion, and will include events throughout the year. It will also definitely feature in our Christmas 2022 wonderland – but as always
this will be kept strictly under wraps until the official opening date in October. As a family business, how many of you are involved with working on Christmas?
We are still a family business. It was Alfred and Margaret’s sons, Ron and John, along with Ron’s wife Wendy, who expanded the business even further and, whilst John retired in the early 1980s, Ron’s passion and entrepreneurial spirit guided the business through the 1990s and into the Noughties.
We are now in our third
generation with myself and my three sisters all involved with the business. Helen is head of
marketing; Katherine is head of HR and Rachel heads up the visual merchandising team and coordinates our Christmas campaigns.
It doesn’t stop there though, as members of the fourth generation are also in the business. Oliver, Rachel’s eldest son, and Ethan, my own eldest child, are currently working part time in our dining and pricing function.
In 1978 Bents famously sold over a thousand fresh Christmas trees in just one day. Is this still a big specialist focus for Bents? What about artificial trees?
The introduction of fresh Christmas trees, seasonal plants and being one of the first garden centres to sell a small range of decorations started what would become a lifetime passion for the festive season for Bents.
In January 1978 Bents established a company called Christmas Decorations Wholesale, a stand-alone company, which meant the family could attend trade fairs as a wholesaler – something we weren’t able to do as a retailer. It was that year that myself and Rachel first visited Harrogate Christmas Fair, and since then we’ve never looked back.
Fresh Christmas trees remain a big focus for us, and by the end of each November, our forest of freshly cut, premium grown trees arrive in our undercover, brightly lit Open Skies Glass House building. We also have one of the largest selection of artificial, real look trees in the region, with a huge emphasis on style and quality. Whatever type or size of tree our customer dreams of we can make it a reality.
Bents was one of the first garden centres in the UK to offer food and drink on site. How do you incorporate not only the catering side of things, but also food gifts and products into your Christmas offering?
Food is definitely one of our passions and it has been great to see our dining destinations return to a new normal since lockdown ended. At Christmas time our dining offering extends even further with our Winter Food Market and, new for this year, Street Food at Bents, which sees us welcome a number of different street vendors on a daily basis. These vary from fish and chips to handcrafted pies and are all located in our outdoor plant area.
At Christmas our food hall really comes into its element with Honeywells Butchers, Reserve Wines, our delicatessen and fresh produce providing the perfect festive meal and celebrations. And hampers are also another key festive feature in the food hall.
Architecturally Bents seems very ahead of the game with its ‘open skies glass house’ building. How do you incorporate the beautiful building and natural light into your festive displays?
Our Open Skies Glass House opened in 2007 and was and still is one of the most innovative and progressive garden centre buildings. During the festive period it houses our outdoor lighting displays and our Lemax Village display, providing inspiration for both inside and out.
It is also the location for our Winter Food Market which comprises wood chalets serving warm mulled wine, bratwurst sausage and sweet treats. It offers all the benefits of traditional Christmas markets, but under cover and brightly lit, with live music and entertainment.
How important is Christmas to Bents in terms of annual sales?
We try and balance the business sales throughout the year, aiming for a third of sales in garden, a third in food and a third in home, which includes Christmas. Like many retailers, 30% of our sales are in the last three months of the calendar year.
How big is Bents’ Christmas store footprint?
Our main Christmas footprint is between 30,000 – 40,000 sq ft, but extends throughout the store in the open skies and other areas of the business to keep the festive feel throughout.
We plan our retail space very carefully and, although Christmas runs throughout the centre in all our departments, we dedicate the area used for Outdoor Living during the spring and summer months, to our themed Christmas displays.
We close the area off section by section, as the seasons change and in time the whole
Ji BRAND PROFILE Festive Lights RETAIL Bents Garden & Home
area is completely sealed off and kept under wraps until our official opening. Only those who have designed and built the displays are allowed into the area to ensure the final reveal is a surprise for everyone.
How big is the team involved with planning and running Christmas at Bents? When does the festive planning start?
Our Christmas team comprises a large number of colleagues – from the visual merchandiser who design all of our displays, to our buyers, to the joiners who physically build the displays and our warehouse team. Planning for next Christmas actually begins before the current one ends. We always have Christmas in mind!
Bents like to offer ‘unique experiences’ for customers – but how does this play out within the Christmas context?
We’ve been doing Christmas since the 1970s, doing things a bit differently to ensure inspiration and exclusivity is found around every corner at Bents. We have a dedicated team who travel the world to source the most up to date and innovative products and a visual merchandising team who design and create spectacular
displays which completely transform the centre. We believe customers want to be transported to a world of imagination and this is why we work so hard to create a new and magical experience every year.
We also have ‘Festive Wednesdays’ throughout November where we have seasonal demonstrations to share our tips and secrets, exclusive shopping events for our Privilege Club members and live entertainment in our Winter Food Market.
Looking back to Christmas 2021, what themes did you have?
Work began to transform the Centre back in August and our official opening took place in October, when we joined by Russell Watson for the occasion.
Last year we had ten new festive themes, including ideas as varied as our ‘So Scrumptious’ display, which was packed full of doughnuts, cupcakes and candy stripes all in a feast of bright and sparkly colours and ‘Grandma’s Kitchen’, a welcoming display in red and white, bursting with festive flavours and ingredients.
All of our displays start with a colour theme, conceptualised by our visual merchandisers, and matching the latest décor themes. From here we identify and buy the decorations which will make their visions come alive.
What festive product categories sold well for you in 2021? Any predictions for 2022?
Last Christmas we saw a huge demand for floral displays, wreaths and garlands. These types of arrangements are hugely popular with customers wanting to decorate throughout their home, from the front door to the banister. Decorations also sold very well as people bought to dress their second tree.
This desire to buy decorations for extra trees is something we believe will continue this year.
What can you tell us about the festive suppliers that you work with?
Bents has worked with Dutch-based Kaemingk for many years now, as well as British supplier Festive. A new, smaller supplier who we started to work with in 2021, is Jormae Pourri, who do a range of festive pot pourri products such as beautiful scented baubles.
What trade shows or showrooms do you attend with Christmas in mind?
We go to the Harrogate Christmas & Gift Fair, Spring Fair, Christmasworld in Frankfurt and also visit the Dutch showrooms. In addition, we visit a number of supplier showrooms, plus we visit other garden centres.
Finally, what do you personally love most about Christmas?
I grew up in a household where Christmas was always on the radar, ever since my father Ron introduced it as a focus for our family business and it became a year-round commitment. But the run up to the big day itself was always a magical time with family at its heart - and it’s the same now. Christmas is always on the agenda for Bents, but it never loses any of its charm or excitement and family takes centre stage.
