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Dobbies Garden Centres Limited
Formerly
  • Dobbie & Co. Limited (1920–1997)
  • Dobbies Garden Centres plc (1997–2011)[1]
Company typePrivate
IndustryGardening
Founded1865
FounderJames Dobbie
HeadquartersLasswade, Scotland, UK
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
David Robinson (CEO)
OwnersAres Management
Number of employees
950
Websitedobbies.com

Dobbies Garden Centres Limited (styled as dobbies) is a British chain of garden centres based in Lasswade, Scotland.[2] It is the biggest garden centre operator in the United Kingdom, operating over 77 stores, some of which it acquired from the previous biggest garden centre chain, Wyevale.[3][4]

History

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Dobbies Garden Centre, Aberdeen

The business was founded in 1865 by James Dobbie, who created a seeds business named Dobbie & Co. in Renfrew, Scotland. After being awarded the Royal Warrant for Gardeners and Nurserymen to the Royal Household, the company expanded into a seed catalogue business, where it built up a customer base of 50,000 over the following century.[5][6]

In 1969 the company expanded out of its Scottish base into England, and was floated on AIM in 1987. Up until 1984 Dobbies continued to operate principally as a seed merchant. It was then bought out by David Barnes, managing director of Waterers. Between 1984 and 1989 Dobbies opened five new garden centres in Scotland.[7]

The company was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1997 and this led to Dobbies expanding their garden centre operations further South into England.[8]

Acquisition by Tesco

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Tesco announced its intention to purchase Dobbies Garden Centres for £155.6 million on 8 June 2007.[9] The deal was confirmed as successful by the board of directors of Tesco on 17 August 2007 when the board announced that they had received 53.1% of shares (or 5,410,457 shares), which confirmed conditions set out in the offer made on 20 June 2007. Although the deal had been confirmed by Tesco the offer remained open to Dobbies shareholders until 20 August 2007.[10]

Tesco raised its holding to 65% in September that year,[11] although Sir Tom Hunter took the company to court in May 2008 in an attempt to avoid further shares in Dobbies being issued, as it would reduce his holding. The legal challenge was unsuccessful,[12] and on 5 June 2008 Tesco announced that it would be compulsorily acquiring the remainder of the shares in Dobbies Garden Centres PLC.[13]

Example of covered plant area

On 10 May 2009, Dobbies announced it had made £1 million sales of its Grow Your Own range in that year to date. Grow Your Own allows many of Dobbies' 10 million-strong customer base to grow salad, vegetables and fruits from home with more than 100,000 tomato plants sold in the previous two months alone. For the year to early 2009, turnover was £97 million.[14]

In 2010, Dobbies opened their first outlet in Northern Ireland,[15] and the store, near Lisburn, opened in September 2010.

Sell off from Tesco

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On 17 June 2016, Tesco sold the company on to a group of investors led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital for £217m.[16][17]

Recent years

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Dobbies Garden Centre, Lasswade

Dobbies now operates 77 garden centres and restaurants across the UK, as well as several large tourist attractions including Anker Wood, in Atherstone.[18]

In May 2019, Dobbies bought 37 stores from Wyevale Garden Centres, doubling its reach and becoming the biggest garden centre in the UK.[19][20]

In February 2020, Dobbies closed its Dalgety Bay Store in Fife, stating its small size and proximity to a larger store in Dunfermline as reasons for the decision.[21][22]

Dobbies announced in June 2020 that it would open a flagship store near Tewkesbury at the planned Designer Village Cotswold. The store is scheduled to open in 2022 and will become the largest store in the South West and the fourth largest in the UK.[23]

Following its temporary closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dobbies announced a partnership with Sainsbury's to supply its food halls with Sainsbury's branded products.[24] The range will contain over 3,000 products including chilled, frozen, ambient and household products. Dobbies' Edinburgh store was the first to offer the full range at the end of July with other stores following throughout 2020.[25] However, in 2022 certain stores trialled a Waitrose branded food hall. In October 2023, the company opened their largest store in Antrim in Northern Ireland, costing over £10 million to construct.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "DOBBIES GARDEN CENTRES LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House. 18 February 1920. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  2. ^ "DOBBIES GARDEN CENTRES LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  3. ^ "Locate store". dobbies.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  4. ^ Briggs, Fiona. "UK's largest garden centre chain, Dobbies, launches partnership with SmartPlant". Retail Times. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Scottish garden centre chain buys two branches from Dobbies". The Scotsman.
  6. ^ Pennie, Gavin (2 December 2009). "Dobbies to open new base in Renfrew". dailyrecord.
  7. ^ Insider, Business (15 April 2010). "James Barnes Profile - People come to Dobbies to be inspired". businessInsider. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ "Dobbies Garden Centres". Garden Action. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  9. ^ Jordan, Dearbail (8 June 2007). "Tesco swoops on Dobbies Garden Centres". The Times. London. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  10. ^ "Offer Declared Unconditional in all Respects". Dobbies. 17 August 2007. p. 1. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2007.
  11. ^ "Tesco sees UK sales growth slow". BBC News. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  12. ^ "Tesco buys Hunter's Dobbies stake". BBC News. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  13. ^ "Compulsory acquisition of outstanding Dobbies Shares". Dobbies. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010.
  14. ^ "It's The Good Life for Dobbies as sales rise". Evening Times. 11 May 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  15. ^ Lisburn City Council Press Release 20 May 2010: "New Dobbies Garden World for Lisburn" Archived 1 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "Tesco sells Dobbies Garden Centres for £217m". BBC. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  17. ^ Wood, Zoe; Kollewe, Julia (17 June 2016). "Tesco again scales back 24-hour trading, with 2,000 jobs put at risk". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  18. ^ "Locate store". dobbies.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  19. ^ "Store - Dobbies | Dobbies Garden Centres". The Times.
  20. ^ Bowden2019-04-10T11:11:00, Grace. "Dobbies snaps up 31 garden centres from rival Wyevale". Retail Week. Retrieved 13 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Henderson, Neil. "Fife garden centre closure leaves 27 jobs at risk". The Courier. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  22. ^ "Inspiring Gardeners since 1865 - Dobbies Garden Centres". hub.dobbies.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  23. ^ Flowers, Sophie; King, Jasper (1 June 2020). "New flagship Dobbies Garden Centre to open off M5 north of Bristol". BristolLive. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  24. ^ "Dobbies & Sainsbury's launch grocery partnership - Retail Gazette". retailgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  25. ^ Stein, Findlay (20 July 2020). "Dobbies leads Sainsbury's up the garden centre path". Scottish Local Retailer Magazine. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
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