The new building had a soft launch on October 15 – just days after Perrywood was handed the keys by contractors. They pulled out all the stops to get it primed and filled with stock in just 12 days.
As the car parks filled and long queues formed at the cafe-restaurant in the huge new building – which replaces an older centre nearby – the Bourne family behind it knew it had a big hit on its hands.
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Hannah Powell of Perrywood garden centres (Image: Sarah Chambers)
The public has fallen in love with the new gardening mecca, built in response to growing demand.
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“It blows my mind sometimes. It has been wonderful,” says Hannah Powell, one of the third generation owners. She admits the response has exceeded expectations.
“We are loving it,” she says.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
“It has been phenomenal since we opened – we have run out of space in the car park and our restaurant has been full.
“I think demand for something like this in this area was huge. I think there’s nothing else on this scale.”
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Although there are lots of great small independent businesses in Sudbury and Lavenham, this was “the whole package” with accessibility for those who might otherwise struggle – and the public was able to see the building as it went up, she says.
The Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
The site is part of a flourishing third generation garden centre business spread over three sites at Tiptree, East Hanningfield near Chelmsford and Sudbury.
Perrywood was started by the late Mary and Les Bourne who bought the Tiptree site in 1955.
Today their three grandchildren run it with their dad, Alan Bourne, 74, who bought the business from his parents with wife, Karin, in 1984.
At that point it was a £75k turnover business based at Tiptree. It included some greenhouses and polytunnels, offered pick-you-own strawberries and potatoes and had started to grow bedding plants.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
Karin – now retired – and Alan scaled up the operations, buying land to extend the Tiptree operation to 25 acres.
All of the present generation have worked outside the business and brought their individual skills to bear.
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For the past nine years, communications an HR director Hannah has been running the business with brothers Simon and Tristan Bourne.
Retail director Simon – who worked for lighthouse keepers Trinity House as a project engineer – returned in 2008.
He was followed by Hannah – who studied horticulture at university before taking on a PR and marketing role in London – a couple of years later.
Tristan – who worked for cable laying businesses for offshore wind farms – now deals with operations, construction work and a host of other areas.
Hannah Powell of Perrywood garden centres (Image: Sarah Chambers)
They have also recently purchased a family business near Chelmsford where they expect to make some changes, but not on the scale of Sudbury.
Today, Alan looks after the plants business leaving his children to run the wider operations. All three of the garden centres have some kind of nursery production and the family prides itself on growing its own plants.
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“I don’t think he’ll ever stop working,” says Hannah. “It’s a way of life.”
The Bournes bought the 32-acre Sudbury site from Wyevale in 2018.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
“At the time they were selling all their gardening centres – so they put 120 on the market and we went and looked at quite a few and this was the one we really wanted,” explains Hannah.
The grandchildren grew up next to the Tiptree garden centre where it all began and “lived and breathed” the business in their childhoods.
“Working together is just an extension of the chats we had around the kitchen table – mum and dad didn’t have an office,” says Hannah.
Simon Bourne of Perry garden centres (Image: Sarah Chambers)
Between them they agree on the important things, she says – the vision and direction they want to go in. “It’s better we disagree because you look at things from different angles and make better decisions,” she adds.
They moved into what is now the old Sudbury garden centre and started to build the business – using the expertise they have built up over many years.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
The centre itself was small and included an outdoor plant area and a small 20-seat cafe which they increased in size to 80 seats within the same footprint.
They added two canopies or polytunnels for plants and Christmas trees allowing them more space for retail – but their longer-term plan was always to create something bigger.
“We know garden centres and we know what they need so we thought it was a really good opportunity to build it from scratch,” says Hannah.
Hannah Powell of Perrywood garden centres (Image: Sarah Chambers)
Supported by Barclays they managed to turn their vision for Sudbury into a reality this year.
“Although we hadn’t borrowed money before they could see the growth and that we were a successful business and they could see the potential of the plan,” says Hannah.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
But getting to the point of opening has been a long process. “It was important to us to make sure there was a market here before building. We tripled the turnover within three years (of purchase) so we knew there was a market.”
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That gave them the confidence to apply for planning permission in 2021, achieving permission the following year.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
Plans for an even bigger garden centre – about 50% larger again – were scaled back because the fallout from the Ukraine war caused costs to spiral.
“There was a lot of uncertainty that year so we then had to put in for further planning permissions,” explains Hannah.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
“Part of running a business is adapting to external things that are out of your control.”
Work on the scaled down building began just over a year ago. It was a good site with plenty of space for their ambitious new build – a 1900sq m retail building with a 200-cover cafe. Planning permission still exists for expansion in the future if they feel there is the demand there.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
Across the group, Perrywood employs around 338 people, 100 of them in Sudbury – nearly double the figure when they bought the site.
They took on 35 new staff for the opening alone and the whole workforce is doing an “amazing” job, says Hannah. Tiptree employs 178 people including in the head office and Buckhatch (Chelmsford) 60.
Simon says they are proud and excited by their new build. “We had such a strong vision of what we wanted,” he says. “It’s worked and that’s superb.”
Part of that vision is what Hannah describes as the “Perrywood magic” – inspiring displays and visual merchandising. Even as they put the finishing touches to this year’s Christmas displays they were thinking about next year.
The shop sells a wide variety of items, including clothing – with brands including Seasalt, Soyaconcept and Brakeburn, foods, gifts and homewares, and the Christmas shopping area is extensive.
But it’s also about the plants. “The reason we are here is to inspire people to get more plants in their lives.
“Plants are our heritage – it’s core to the business. It’s one of the things that make Perrywood Perrywood and people come back for the quality and range we do,” says Hannah.
The attention to detail has paid off – even within the first week of the move to the new building in Sudbury, sales doubled. It’s become a destination shop.
Perrywood garden centre at Sudbury (Image: Sarah Chambers)
Across the three sites, turnover is £18.8m. They have no plans for further expansion at the moment as they want to consolidate and grow their existing businesses.
“This is a long term investment for us, for our family, our staff, for the community,” says Hannah.
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