QD Stores to double number of Cherry Lane Garden Centres by 2015
QD Stores is planning to double the number of garden centres operated by its Cherry Lane subsidiary by 2015.
The Norwich-based value retailer has acquired a new build site at Towcester in Northamptonshire, which will increase the total number of Cherry Lane Garden Centres to nine.
Towcester is the third new site opening for Cherry Lane. The group acquired the freehold and assets of Croft Nurseries & Garden Centre in East Yorkshire in April following the purchase of a new build garden centre site at Cromford, Derbyshire in February.
Additional site and land acquisitions located within a 100-mile radius of QD’s Snetterton distribution centre are now proposed, said QD Stores group managing director Justin Farrington Smith. He added: “Our strategy remains focussed on developing our garden centre business organically and through acquisition and we welcome approaches from successful businesses looking to exit the market.”
QD operates over 40 retail outlets under the QD, Buyright, Lathams and Cherry Lane Garden Centre brands, in locations extending from the East of England and Home Counties to Doncaster and Wrexham.
Mike Ryan, the former Garden Centre Manager at Frosts’ Woburn Sands, has been appointed Gardening Category Manager at QD Stores to oversee the Cherry Lane expansion programme.
