Plants Plus Garden Centres have been awarded Best Garden Centres in the South Australia annual Nursery and Garden Industry Awards across three categories. Vadoulis Garden Centre, Gawler, won the award for Best Large Garden Centre, Semaphore Garden Centre took the award for Best Medium Garden Centre and McCourtÕs Garden Centre in Millicent was named the Best Small Garden Centre.
As the only national nursery brand in Australia, Plants Plus is a retail banner under the long established Danks Group, alongside Home Timber and Hardware and Thrifty-Link Hardware. Plants Plus is a network of independently owned garden centres nationwide.
Lou Parente, Danks SA business manager, said the industry recognition is a welcome reward for the tremendous amount of work the Plants Plus Garden Centres put into the provision of exceptional customer service and the overall presentation of their businesses. “The three winners are glowing examples of what a garden centre should be. They strive to meet each customerÕs needs with personalised service and a fantastic range of products for every lifestyle, design and environment,” said Parente.
“While each garden centre is individually owned to deliver local expertise and personalised service, it has the support of a dedicated team of Danks experts to assist with merchandising, marketing and business strategy, and access to innovative retail technology and a wide range of exclusive products.”
Celebrating more than 10 wins in a row, the large Vadoulis Garden Centre displays high quality products and services over 40,000 square metres to cater for the broad range of lifestyles in the region. “In this industry, consumers are hungry for information and we have a dedicated team of experts to deliver it,” said Vadoulis Garden CentreÕs owner, Milton Vadoulis.
Semaphore Garden Centre celebrated winning the Best Medium Garden Centre, with the accolade coming as a welcome reward for the immense hard work and investment that has gone into the business over the past year. Assisted by Plants Plus, Semaphore Garden Centre has tapped into the local market with its unique layout, featuring themed garden display rooms that inspire customers with ideas for their gardens and courtyards, whatever the size.
Also toasting the award for the second consecutive year, owner of the boutique McCourtÕs Garden Centre, Christine Agnew attributed the win to excellent localised customer service provided as a result of good, hardy team work. “We are thrilled to receive this recognition — it is a wonderful tribute to the effort we have all put in to build the business and continue providing for the local community,” said Agnew. “We have excellent support as a Plants Plus Garden Centre. We regularly meet with other Plants Plus Garden Centres in the region and the Danks state staff to exchange ideas and plan our promotions and advertising,” she said.
Each of the state winners is now judged for the national Nursery and Garden Industry Awards, announced in February 2009.