power

By John Stanley Talk to a lot of people who have visited Disneyland in the USA and included in their comments will be how the team members at Disneyland helped to make their experience memorable. At the same time survey after survey identifies that we, as consumers, feel customer service is on the decline. This […]

I was recently approached, by Kerry Johnstone, Editor of Commercial Horticulture magazine in New Zealand about doing an article about me. Not about my work as such, but about my life and how I got to where I am now. So for those of you who are not aware of my path through life, here

By John Stanley It was 1985 when Billy Ocean made the above a classic “pop” song. Okay, it may show my age, but this quote is relevant to retailing in 2008. Over the last few years retailers have experienced economies around the world where consumers continued to have more money in their pockets, it was

By John Stanley The words “recession” and “change” seem to be bound around the retail world quite freely at present. But, at the same time this is a period of opportunity for small retailers to grow their business, as long as they are good neighbours. I was recently in Seattle, the home of the pioneer

One of the issues in the retail world at present is the food debate. Supermarkets versus farm markets, fast food versus slow food, organic versus inorganic. The West Australian newspaper did an excellent article last week on the issue and you can read their article by clicking below. Download Food Fight article here …..

Cauliflower cheese will never be the same again. Scientists have developed amazing variants of vegetable where the traditional white florets have been changed to a garish orange, purple and green. The “rainbow cauliflowers” are said to taste the same as the normal varieties, but add a splash of colour to the dinner table. Some scientists

I spotted this last week in the Sunday Times in the UK. The two biggest publishers in Britain are to offer dozens of likely bestsellers to read on a hand-held screen this autumn in a sign that, after many false dawns, the electronic “ebook” may finally have arrived. Random House and Hachette, which together control

The independent garden centre is constantly changing as a model. Thermafor, in their latest newsletter, reveal their view of the future garden centre. I like their thinking process and I beleive this could be a great model for future discussion. One thing is for sure, the old model in garden centre design is rapidly changing.

I started my working year in Seattle, the home of the sitcom “Frasier”. Apart from presenting a workshop for garden retailers in Washington State, Oregon, Utah and British Columbia I also worked for the award winning Swansons Garden Centre (Nursery Retailer Garden Centre of the Year in the U.S.A. for 2007). Swansons is situated in

I was in the USA at the start of the primaries in New Hampshire and Iowa. At this stage in the presidential elections there are about ten candidates wanting the top job. Put C.N.N. on and listen to their speeches and every one of them was repeating one word “change”. At the same time Tom