The Garden Centre Association was formed in 1966, exactly 60 years ago, as a forum for likeminded individuals to meet and exchange ideas.
The principles differ little today. It is still a forum and catalyst for communication between members from the garden retail and supplier community.
When I first applied to join the GCA, more than 20 years ago now, it was for two main reasons. Firstly, to have somewhere, or someone, to discuss ideas with, as above, and through joining the Barometer of Trade to see how my centre was performing against the rest of the industry.
You can go into these figures further to see both the volumes and percentage changes of 13 different sales categories giving ammunition to get out and change and improve your business performance.
Annual Inspections are carried out by our team of five independent industry experts at all GCA member centres. They are carried out in spring – between March and June – and the inspector’s visit is unannounced. The annual inspection scores are used to determine a number of awards,
both at area level and national level, which are presented either at the summer area awards meetings or at the annual conference in January.
GCA GROW Garden Retail Online Workshops – is the GCA’s e-learning initiative, consisting of 100 courses covering horticulture, customer service, health and safety and many compliance topics such as Food Safety, and is available to all GCA members. GROW is accessible 24/7 via the internet to all staff of participating centres and a trained in-house administrator is able to manage your staff’s progress. Considered one of the most comprehensive training systems in our industry, the courses, designed to be completed in 20-30 minutes, have been written specifically with garden centre retailing in mind.
GCA Conference is held at the end of January in a different location each year. The annual GCA Conference attracts 300+ delegates. The conference is an opportunity to meet owners and senior management of member centres and suppliers (Associate Members), over a 3-day period. The varied content always gives a lot of good commercial ideas to take back to your business to be implemented to drive growth and profitability.
Summer Workshops/Study Tours are organised from time-to-time and this year will cover plants, hospitality and Christmas. These are events held to bring
together category managers and buyers to enable them to discuss best practice and discover new ideas and opportunities.
Barometer of Trade gives members the opportunity to compare and benchmark their monthly sales performance with their peers. Over 110 members share their information every month.
GCA Website is available to members through log in with a designated area for members
WhatsApp Community is available for full members only and cover various topics; information about meetings, relevant events and press coverage is also posted here along with current industry discussion issues.
Publications such as the Directory of Members and the Best of British Magazine are produced annually and distributed free of charge.
Display items provided include membership boards (physical and digital artwork) to promote your membership of the GCA in your centre and reinforce quality and expertise.
International Garden Centre Association (IGCA) membership is an automatic benefit of GCA membership.
Gardenforum is ‘The Information Hub for Garden Retail’ and as a GCA garden centre member you receive free registration and free annual subscription, for all your team.
Forum of Private Business (FPB) represents approximately 25,000 UK-based private businesses with full member access. As a GCA member you receive a 25% discount on full FPB membership.
Associate members are a very valued part of the GCA community. They offer a wide range of products and services. There are approximately 200 suppliers and service providers that are GCA members.
GCA Trust is a charity which provides grants and bursaries to students studying horticulture/garden centre retail. Please contact info@gca.org.uk if you would like further information on this or any other topic raised here.
