John’s Blog

By Michael Barbaro Published: April 16, 2007 After battling over prices for decades, so-called big-box retail chains in the United States are set to fight it out in a new arena: the environment. Home Depot will introduce a line of 3,000 products, like fluorescent light bulbs and natural insect killers, that promote clean water and […]

Horticulture Week – April 12 2007 Chain opts to stop selling gas patio heaters to reinforce green credentials. Wyevale Garden Centres has backed up its recent appointment of a sustainability adviser by revealing plans to become carbon neutral by 2010. The company is the second garden centre business to unveil plans for carbon neutrality, following

Fairway Stores are recognised as retail food heros from New York. A recent article in Global Food and Wine by Paul Mitchell interviewing the owner Steve Jenkins caught my eye �.. here it is. With only four stores in New York State, including Brooklyn and Manhattan locations, Fairway Market is a store that punches well

But, do we always think it through for our customers? Call it linked selling, cross merchandising or solution solving, the result is the same. Provide the complete solution for the consumer and not only do you increase the average sale per customer, but, you also increase repeat business by building trust. This is a standard

Having re-read Peter Kenyon’s excellent book ‘Good Enough Never Is’ recently I thought a sample article from the book would inspire. The challenge for any retailer is creating a unique point of difference, that is memoreable in the eyes of the customer. Think Elvis Presley and Gracelands and your mind goes to the southern states

By Bettina Arndt Ref: The Adelaide Advertiser April 13 2007 It was a natural food shop filled with the displays of fruit and vegetables, baskets of wheat germ and other items pulsing with natural goodness. They sold only one brand of bubbly water, proudly labelled �organic mineral water�. Organic water? What on earth does that

No peeking, Scholastic, the US publisher of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,’ the final book in the series by J.K Rowling, has set strict rules for libraries handling the book. Among them: Libraries must limit the number of emplyees who handle the books before the July 21 release, and provide names and contact information

I recently had a coffee with Trevor Cochrane, half of the highly successful Australian Garden Guru�s team. If you are not aware on the Guru�s you can check out their website www.thegardengurus.tv Whilst we were discussing trends in the gardening industry Trevor also commented on the amazing increase in the popularity of knitting. Well, this

Having informed you about the great time Californian retailers are having, the same is true in the UK. Horticulture Week, 22 March 07, indicates garden centres are up in sales by about 10% bringing them in line with the 2003 season. Some garden centres are recording sales 20% up over last year.

The debate on the sustainability has, in Western Australia, moved to carrots. Maggie Lilith, Salinity and Rural Liaison Officer, reports in the magazine �Greener Times� (March 2007) that it takes 325 litres of water to produce $1.00 of carrots. 65% of water used in WA goes to agriculture and horticulture and we are experiencing our