Whatever their reason for growing at home, customers were thwarted by the closure of the garden centres and have turned instead to their trusty local store.
Of course, convenience stores have not disappointed, they managed to help us and supplied seeds and other gardening supplies to a much wider range of customers than usual. If we look at the whole gardening category, to include seeds, compost, fertiliser, bedding plants, and garden consumables like garden sacks, we see a huge rise in sales. The data, drawn from around 3000 independent c-stores across Great Britain, show a 173% increase in sales of gardening products between week 10 and 11 and a steep curve after that. We hope that means some blooming gardens and lots of produce to come!4.4% of convenience stores sell bird feeders. The number of stores selling these items has doubled over lockdown which shows how nimble and responsive our friendly local stores can be – and just how much we need them!