Cherry Lane Garden Centres – Celebrating 21 Years, and Still Growing!
By Rachael – Content Editor
Published June 2022
We are celebrating our 21st Anniversary!
Cherry Lane has been going for 21 years and as a business, we have grown from three sites to 17! To celebrate, we have a month of events, activities and special treats planned at our garden centres as the business marks this milestone. We will also be giving our own gift to the community, by donating a special anniversary garden bench to the local area surrounding each of our store locations. You can find out more here.
Time to Celebrate!
Celebrations at Cherry Lane kick off this week and run until the third of July. Among the festivities will be competitions, giveaways and gifts for customers. Our garden centres will be bustling with birthday excitement, as well as offering massive savings for customers across its outdoor summer ranges – perfect for holding a garden party of your own!
How did Cherry Lane begin?
The UK’s only value garden centre group, Cherry Lane was established in 2001 by parent company QD, which made its name on the high street as an independent family-run discount retailer running QD stores since 1985.
During the past 21 years, Cherry Lane has gone from strength to strength, starting as a group of three garden centres in East Anglia to 17 across the country today, reaching from Suffolk to Worcester and Essex to Yorkshire. Cherry Lane now also has five of its own on-site nurseries, which cultivate the group’s Grown by Us range of homegrown plants that are sold across the business.
Nick Rubins, chief executive of the QD Group, which owns Cherry Lane, said: “We are delighted to have reached this milestone. Since launching Cherry Lane 21 years ago, the garden centre industry has changed considerably, but our garden centres have always kept up with the times by providing welcoming restaurants and introducing new departments in-store such as pets and groceries, not to mention creating exciting soft play areas in some locations too. Throughout the years we’ve always strived to offer customers great quality products at amazing prices across our stores – this is something we believe has really been key to our success and we will continue to do as the Cherry Lane group grows further.”
Front and centre: Nick Rubins, Chief Executive of QD Group
Cherry Lane has grown its business solely through the acquisition of existing garden centres, with its most recent acquisition, Riverside in Hockley, Essex, bringing the Group total to 17 across East Anglia, East Midlands and Yorkshire. This remains a route preferred by Cherry Lane as Nick explains: “When we take over a garden centre, it is so important to look after the people who work within it and listen to the owners about how they have achieved their success over the years, to embrace it and develop the same key ingredient going forward. We’re an independent, family-run business and uphold these values when we take on new sites. One of the key benefits of our business model is that we’re flexible – we don’t use the same template in every single Cherry Lane. We look to see what the garden centre has and how we can enhance it. Garden centres have a community-based feel and we’re always keen to maintain and build on that.”
Still growing strong
In 2012, Cherry Lane acquired a garden centre in Beverley which had its own on-site nursery operation. This marked the start of Grown by Us, Cherry Lane’s homegrown plant range which is sold throughout the business. A further four on-site nurseries have been added to this in the past 10 years, enabling the business to produce in excess of 1.2 million seedlings annually.
Keeping it green
We have also embraced a sustainable future with the introduction of our Value Our Planet initiative in 2019, aimed at cutting waste and carbon emissions throughout the business. New product lines have been brought in aimed at helping consumers to shop more sustainably. You can find out more about Value Our Planet here.
Looking Forward
After 21 years, Cherry Lane is still growing and Nick Rubins remains very positive about the future. “It is a very exciting time for us and we are looking ahead to bringing more garden centres into our family. It doesn’t seem like 21 years since we bought the first three Cherry Lanes, but the celebrations are a fitting tribute to all our staff who have been with us over the years, many for a very long time, and our customers and suppliers too.”
We couldn’t have made it without you, and we look forward to welcoming you into our stores and celebrating with our much-loved customers.
Keep an eye out in your local Cherry Lane Garden Centre for upcoming celebrations, you can find your local store here. We will also be sharing all of the excitement with you on our social media, as well as here on the blog. Check back regularly for all the latest announcements!
We hope to see you soon!
